Refuge
by YarningChick
Summary: One haunted house plus a lovely lonely girl equals an old fashioned romance.
1. Christmas Eve

**Chapter One: Christmas Eve**

It all seemed so frivolous. The country, along with several others, was about to be torn apart by a war that would span over the planet, and all the gentry could think about were Christmas parties?

The black-suited nobleman shook his head in disgust. Why was he even here? He should be back at his family manor, packing for the journey he was to take the next day.

"Baron, darling?" an elderly woman lisped at him. The tawny man turned to her, a gentle smile in place for the countess.

"Yes, Aunt Ruth?" he asked her.

"You really should find someone to dance with, dear. It may be quite some time until you'll be able to dance with a lovely young woman again, once you leave to enlist in the army."

"Yes, Aunt Ruth," Baron sighed tiredly as he began to search the overly large ball room. As always, it was duty he was thinking of.

It wasn't the dancing that he thought of as duty. On the contrary, he loved the activity. It was just the various partners he had endured over the years that tended to get under his skin.

The young (and some who were not so young) women in the ballroom were openly looking at him with hungry eyes, and this is what scared him. He slowly began to pace the outer ring of the swirling brocades.

"Hel-lo, Baron," one ravishing brunette called, giggling with her friends until he passed by them without so much as a glance.

They were all the same, Baron concluded dismally, looking back at all the noblewomen, many of whom he had grown up with.

Different names, different faces, and different clothes. But it didn't matter; they were all the same underneath. Shallow, vain, and possessive. He knew it was his duty to eventually marry one of them, and produce an heir to the von Gikkingen line… but he intended to delay that day for as long as possible. Or at least until he could find someone whose companionship didn't bore him to tears. As things stood, there was only one girl's companionship that he could stand that _wasn't _his dear old aunt.

Baron smiled amusedly, and made a beeline for the grand piano in a corner of the ballroom. She may be too young for him romantically, but one can never be too young to dance, and she was used to being a last resort for him at parties like this when he didn't feel like enduring idle chitchat.

One of his best friends was at the piano, his fat fingers playing a surprisingly graceful melody as the tiny girl in a dark green dress next to him on the bench played a minor accompaniment. A red beaded flower clip had her long, slightly bouncy hair pulled gracefully away from her fair face.

"Would you care to dance, Louise?" Baron asked with a smile, bowing for the ten-year-old girl with white blonde hair.

She looked up at him, her sky-blue eyes wide with surprise and excitement. "Of course," she exclaimed, hopping off of the bench and accepting his hand.

The fatter pianist growled angrily. "Come on, Baron. Go get your own partner. Chicky was helping me with my latest piece."

"I'll be right back, Uncle Renny," Louise assured him with a giggle as Baron led her to the dance floor.

Baron smiled as he turned the little girl around to sweep her into the grand waltz. "Shouldn't your father have shown up by now, Louise? It's getting close to ten, and the party should be ending soon."

"Papa's putting the last touches on the castle," she tried to whisper while giggling. "You know how stubborn he can get about the little details."

Baron fought down a few chuckles of his own. "He's always been that way. There are days I'm surprised that he remembers that he has _you _to think of."

"Don't be silly," Louise scoffed. "He's always thinking of me. He just thinks about his toys, too. I don't mind," she insisted softly, like she was trying to convince herself more than him. "Baron, do you _really_ have to go join the army tomorrow?" she asked him yet again.

He sighed, twirling her around with ease. "No, I don't _have _to go. I just choose to. Besides, if I don't go of my own will, a platoon of soldiers will more than likely come with a royal invitation within a month. It's better this way," he concluded sadly, sweeping her off her feet and high over his head before setting her down again.

"You'll be careful, won't you, Baron?" Louise whispered fearfully, twirling around gracefully underneath his hand.

"I'll do my best," he promised her, touched by the blonde girl's concern. Not surprised, just touched.

Without warning, the entire ballroom's lights darkened from an unseen hand.

Louise giggled. "Looks like Papa's finally ready."

"Looks like it," Baron agreed, gently guiding the small girl away from the dance floor as green smoke began to pillar up into a tower in the middle of the room as everyone else also backed off in apprehension.

Grinning evilly, the ridiculously fat pianist began an ominous crescendo that slowly built as the smoke did.

Louise giggled as she walked back to the piano, and finished the crescendo with a lighthearted trill.

The smoke was immediately thrown back by a large cape that appeared from within its billows, to reveal a dark-haired man, as well as a breath-taking miniature castle with soaring towers on a dark table in front of him.

The structure only measured a few feet in any direction, but the white building had a kind of sheen reminiscent of mother-of-pearl. There were delicately detailed tiny bricks making up the castle, and large ornamental windows so that one could see the dancing figures within.

Unlike a real castle, though, the castle only had one room, in which several delicate mechanical dolls moved around in set tracks to waltz in circles before switching off with the partner next to them in time with the melody that originated from the very back of the castle, the only hint being the tiny gold key that slowly turned around. To help disguise the tracks, the man had lined all of them with a pale blue to make a symmetric design on the white dance floor. There were even trumpeters in the balconies, as well as a king and queen on the throne, both young and beautiful.

Everyone gathered around the intricately detailed music box, some even gasping in wonder.

Aunt Ruth was nearly breathless with appreciation. "Dear, dear Toto," she crooned to the man, who had stepped back from his creation. "This must be your best piece yet. I've never seen such detail."

The dark man bowed low for her, his roguish grin piercing his gentlemanly manner. "Thank you, Countess. I live but to serve."

The fat pianist snorted indelicately from his bench. "Yeah, but to serve what?"

"Not now, Uncle Renny," Louise shushed him, waving her finger in a 'no no' gesture to her father before he could make his usual comeback. "Don't ruin Ruth's party with another fight."

The fat brunette pouted, and began playing in a soft minor key. "Oh, all right Chicky. Take all the fun out of the holidays."

Baron bit back a chuckle, noting the exchange from the sidelines. Louise was the only person, besides him, that could ever force the two men who were, incidentally, brothers-in-law to forsake yet another argument. He sighed, looking at Toto's latest creation.

Although his magic was very different from his darker best friend's, he couldn't help but admire just how much Toto could do in front of people without raising any suspicions.

Of course, the toymaker had the power to create. Baron only had the power to change. And even then, he had his limits.

"Isn't the castle beautiful?" Lady Jennifer sighed, lingeringly grabbing his arm so that he couldn't escape again, her brown hair intentionally falling over his shoulder like a dark cape.

He fought back another groan of frustration as he nodded stiffly.

"So _exquisite_," Lady Harriet crooned while grabbing his other arm, giving a not-too-subtle glare at the rival on his other side.

Baron sighed softly, casting his gaze up to the ceiling. It wouldn't be so bad if the girls he was forced to keep a polite acquaintance with, would just be honest about who they really were. More than one of his old friends from college had married a girl that seemed to be perfect, only for her to change into a monster after the honeymoon.

And they had all acted precisely like the girls that were trying so hard to ensnare him. If he only could, he would make them act the way they did when they didn't think anyone was watching. He had a nagging suspicion that many of them wouldn't be half as attractive.

Only Louise was honest with him. He suspected that she felt more for him than merely a good family friend, but with time, that feeling would fade, and she'd marry someone a little closer to her own age. That would be proper, after all.

Maybe… someday… Baron himself would be able to find a girl that didn't hide who she really was. He inwardly laughed at himself for still hoping as he tried to detangle his limbs from the two girls holding him captive.

To meet such a woman would take a miracle.

Renaldo was listening attentively as his tiny niece perfected his latest piece, which had a slightly melancholy air. Out of the three, the fat brunette was the only one whose talent was completely ordinary.

"Beautiful, Chicky," he murmured when she was done, sharply restraining himself from patting her head and messing her hairstyle.

Louise, however, was biting her lip in concentration. "It needs something," she mused. "Maybe some lyrics?"

Renaldo laughed ruefully. "You know I can't write _that _kind of music to save my life. How about this; if you come up with some good lyrics, I'll take you with me on my next tour so you can sing them on stage."

Louise squealed with delight and jumped up on the bench so she could hug his fat neck. "Really?! I'll do it, Uncle Renny!"

"_Now _what are you promising my daughter?!" Toto demanded, storming over to the piano as the blonde girl took another look at the title of the song, to start prodding her brain.

"Nothing much," Renaldo said smugly. "I'm just going to take her with me on my next tour while you stay home and paint swan wings."

"You're not supposed to talk about the swan wings in public, you fatso," Toto hissed angrily, lunging for his brother in law angrily. The toys he came up with were always a big secret until the unveiling, and Renaldo had already promised not to talk about them.

Louise dodged her father almost absently, her face thoughtful as the musician and toymaker started rolling across the tiled floor, pounding on each other like tavern brawlers while shouting ridiculous insults.

"At least I don't have a bird brain!" Renaldo shouted, since nearly all of Toto's creations had birds of some sort in them. Even the castle had tiny swans on the delicate buttresses bracing the inside of the small ballroom.

"At least I can dance!" Toto shouted back, kicking the fat man's stomach.

"I can dance!"

"Yeah, just like a drunken bear!"

"_BEAR_?!" Renaldo howled angrily, throwing yet another punch.

"Dancing bears," Louise whispered, staring at her uncle's music. "Dancing bears… and painted wings," she whispered thoughtfully.

Baron had escaped from the women holding him captive, and looked at the music while hugging the little girl from behind.

"_Once upon a December_," he sang in a low soft voice, imagining how the title of the song would fit into the girl's future lyrics.


	2. Clocks and Clients

**Chapter Two: Clocks and Clients**

Angelica Smith beamed at the couple in front of her, and held out a pen. "Please sign on the dotted line, and you can start moving in tomorrow."

The man proudly signed his name in a broad hand, and then passed the pen to his young wife, who signed in a neater print while keeping one hand on her swollen belly.

"Again, thank you so much, Angelica," the pregnant woman gushed. "That old apartment would have been far too small for us _and _the baby."

Angelica waved one hand dismissively, although a grin of satisfaction was present. "I'm just doing my job. I hope you enjoy your new home." She shook hands once more with the young couple, and then watched them walk out the door of her office.

She smiled in satisfaction, and used her pinky to pull a stray lock of her red hair behind one ear before neatly placing the couple's files back into the folder. She set it to the side, and grabbed the next one.

As she opened it, she reached over and pressed the small box on her desk. "Is the next client here, Nellie?"

"Yes, Angie," her secretary answered.

"Go ahead and send her in, then." _'What a name. How am I supposed to pronounce this without giving offense?' _she wondered, checking out the foreign woman's references.

"Uh, Angie?" Nellie said hesitantly. "She's fixing the clock."

"What?!" the realtor demanded in shock, jumping out of her chair and running out of her office. She burst out of the door, looking around it at the heirloom clock on the other side.

It was a grandfather clock, exquisite in every detail. The door was open at the front, and she could see a black-clad figure squatting at the bottom of it, tinkering with something. Her face and front of her body was hidden by the clock's door.

"What are you _doing_?!" Angie demanded, making the woman on the other side reach around the door and raise one gloved finger.

"Give me a second," the stranger said, making one final click with the other hand. Satisfied, she got to her feet, and closed the door.

The realtor stared at the girl as she reached above the clock face and felt around for the key, which she used to wind the clock up and set to the correct time with one finger.

"Silent clocks make my fingers itch," the dark-haired woman explained as the mechanical device boomed the hour, and started ticking steadily as she folded her small pocketknife away.

Angie bit her lip. "You _do _know that this is a Drosselmeyer clock, right? It doesn't work for over ten minutes after someone fixes it."

The almost skeletal girl looked at the realtor curiously with her large brown eyes. "What on earth are you talking about? You can't _get_ a better clock than a Drosselmeyer."

"That used to be true," Nellie interjected. "But none have them have worked properly for decades. At least here in the village."

The stranger sighed as she put the key to the grandfather clock back where she found it. "Whether that's true or not, I don't think this one will be giving you any more trouble, if you remember to wind it once a day to keep it running. It just had a few gears that had worked loose."

"We'll see. Well, please step into my office, miss, and let's see what we can do for you."

The dark woman nodded, and pulled her black coat tighter over her bony body as she followed Angie into her office, and sat down at the offered seat.

The realtor took a careful inventory of the girl's appearance as she sat back at her desk, and started going through the young woman's file.

She was pale, clearly an unhealthy white, and her large brown eyes seemed tired, and a little sad. Her hair, instead of the jet black Angie was expecting, was instead a straight soft brown that fell flat against the girl's scalp.

Her clothes looked a little too warm for the season, though. She was dressed in a soft white turtleneck sweater with black pants to match her flowing trench coat, even sporting a pair of fitted black leather gloves, like the girl was too shy to show any skin except what was on her face, which didn't really look all that foreign. If not for her name, Angie might have accepted her as another British girl, accent and all.

And as much clothes as she was wearing, none could mask just how dangerously skinny she was. Did she have an eating disorder?

"You don't look Chinese," Angie said hesitantly, leafing through the file on her desk.

"That's because I'm Japanese," the girl said with a tolerant smile. "But I have a little English blood in me, if that's what you're wondering."

"Oh," was all Angie could think of to say, still staring at the girl. She snuck another glance down at the portfolio.

No! She was twenty-six years old? She looked at _least _ten years younger.

Angie sighed, and pushed the thought to the back of her mind. "Tell me, miss…" _'Drat! I forgot about the name!'_

"Haru," the dark woman supplied, pulling her coat tightly around her like she was cold. "Yoshioka Haru."

"… right. Well, Miss Haru, what kind of house are you looking for?"

The slim brunette sighed longingly. "I'd like a place that feels like a home. It would need at least two bedrooms so that I can use one of them for work, but hopefully somewhere where I can have plenty of peace and privacy. I'm not all that concerned about the cost or size, I would just like a home of my own." She smiled ironically, and pointed to her tight pale face. "As you may have been able to tell, my health hasn't been the best. It's kind of tough to get healthy again when you're living in a hotel room off of takeout food. Do you think you have anywhere suitable for me?"

Angie stared at Haru again, but then turned to her computer to start looking through the available accommodations. "I think we may have a few places that would interest you. How do you feel about an apartment?"

"I'd rather not," the dark girl admitted truthfully. "I'd prefer a place where I can go without seeing or hearing people for hours."

"All, right. There goes five possibilities," Angie said, crossing the locations off of the papers that slowly spewed from the printer. "Here's a nice three bedroom house, right next to the local park."

"That sounds promising," Haru said, leaning forward in her chair slightly.

"But if you'd rather not encounter people, then the ten town houses probably aren't for you," Angie concluded, scratching more locations off the list, and sending two of the pages for the trash can. The realtor looked at the remaining paperwork thoughtfully.

"That leaves five possible houses that could suit you. I have no other clients for today, so if you would like to look at them right now…" She didn't need to finish the thought.

"Can we?" Haru said longingly. "I really want out of that hotel as soon as possible."

"I can understand that," Angie laughed, standing up from her chair. "Is your car sturdy?"

"Uh," Haru flushed, looking down at her feet. "I haven't bought a car yet. I only arrived in town the day before yesterday. I wanted to get a home first."

"Oh. All right, let's take mine then."

ooOoo

"You can see the mountain from _this_ window," Angie said hopefully as Haru wandered around the blank house like a ghost, her eyes clouded with thought.

"Not this one, either," the slim brunette said regretfully. "It feels a little too cramped to be comfortable."

"But this was the last one on the list!" the realtor protested, making the client nod her head affirmingly.

"I'm sorry for making you go through all this trouble for nothing, Angelica," Haru apologized, her dark eyes sadder than ever. "I just had my heart set on living near here, that's all."

"Why?" the red-headed woman asked as they walked out the front door so she could lock it behind them.

"It's… personal."

Angie quirked an eyebrow as she slipped into the driver's seat of her shiny black car. "How personal?"

"Very," Haru said absently, looking at the mountains longingly. "Call it part of a life's dream that I've only recently had the guts to actually go for."

Angie couldn't think of anything to say about that. She turned the key in the ignition, making the engine roar to life.

Without warning, her mind gave an audible click. She snuck a slightly scared look at the mysterious brunette sitting next to her, her mind horrified.

No… she couldn't do _that_ to the poor girl!

Haru looked over in bemusement. "Is something wrong?"

Angie wanted to say no, but the words wouldn't issue from her throat. Finally, she sighed in defeat.

Time was about due for another tenant, anyway.

"Haru…" she said hesitantly. "How often do you want to see people again?"

The slim brunette shrugged, but the gesture looked almost _painful_. "As little as humanly possible. I gave some thought one or two months ago about paying someone to build me a home in the mountains, but I _really _don't want to wait that long." She sighed longingly. "I guess what I really want, is a refuge from the outside world, at least until I'm ready to face it again."

"What about going without human contact for _months_?" Angie pressed. "What if the only time you had to come in contact with people was when you needed to buy food or supplies?"

Haru stared at her. "That would be perfect. You have another place to look at?" she asked excitedly.

Numbly, Angie nodded, berating herself as she shifted gears, and drove down the road. "You could say that. And I flat out guarantee that if you move there, no one will come and bother you."

The realtor drove down the road for ten minutes, taking a fork in the road that led up to the mountain that seemed to tower over the village like a brooding parent. Haru watched the trees go by in silence, clearly praying that this would be the place.

Angie kept silent, hating herself for what she was about to do.

Ten minutes later, the car came to a stop outside of a tall wrought-iron gate. The realtor stepped out of her car to unlock the chain holding the gate closed as the foreign girl stared at the intricate iron 'G' that surmounted the gate.

"What is this place?" Haru asked softly as Angie slipped into her seat to drive past the opened gateway.

The redhead sighed tiredly, remembering clearly the last five times she had tried to sell this residence. "This is the von Gikkingen manor," Angie said formally, easing her car into a half-circle in the large cobblestone courtyard.

Haru stifled a gasp, staring shamelessly at the tall ivy-covered brick house that just happened to be a mansion. "Are you serious?" she whispered while stepping out of the car. "_The _von Gikkingen manor?!"

"You've heard of this place?" Angie asked in surprise, locking the car doors behind her. A needless gesture on the manor lands, but it was an unbreakable habit.

"I've done some reading," Haru breathed, still staring with wide appreciative eyes. "The pictures don't do the place justice, though." She turned around suddenly with comprehension. "Why is this place empty? I thought for sure it would have been turned into a museum or historical landmark by now, all things considered."

"It's a landmark, all right," Angie brooded, stepping around her car. "But no one ever comes up here." She stiffened, and looked pointedly at the large door in front of them.

"What's wrong," Haru asked, glancing curiously at the direction the realtor was trying a little too hard to ignore.

A decent-sized crow was sitting on a nearby wooden fence, preening one of his wings while staring at her.

She bit back a giggle, wondering if that was all that was getting under the red head's skin.

"Don't look at the bird," Angie hissed, dragging the girl by one bony arm up the stone steps so that she could fumble with the key rings in her purse. "He's bad luck."

"That's ridiculous," Haru scoffed, sneaking another glance at the crow. His head was still cocked in her direction, but… there was almost a strange twinkle in his black eyes.

"Try telling _that _to the second-to-last person to own this place," Angie retorted, unlocking the door hurriedly before pushing the brunette inside the manor. "That demon bird tried to claw off his face."

"Yikes," Haru commented, looking around the dusty foyer speculatively.

"You could say that again," Angie grunted, locking the door shut behind her. "All right, as long as we're here, I might as well explain the place. This is the front room, complete with sitting chairs and coat racks for guests…"

"Wait," Haru whispered, walking over to a wall with cracks in its paint. Angie watched breathlessly as the girl raised one hand to the yellowing paint, and felt it with her slim hand. Then she laid her face against it, rubbing one cheek against the wall as she inhaled the slightly stale air lingeringly.

"_This _is the place. It's quite a bit bigger than what I was hoping for, but I can definitely call it home." Curiously, Haru looked over at the realtor, who was staring back in shock and total denial.

"How come no one lives here? I understand that the von Gikkingen line has been extinct for some time now, but why isn't _someone _already living here?"

Angie bit her lip, and braced herself for the wild laughter that was sure to follow.

"Because it's haunted."


	3. The von Gikkingen Ghost

**Chapter Three: The von Gikkingen Ghost**

Haru stared at Angie, her huge eyes becoming dark and slightly hurt. "Haunted?" she asked in a flat voice, like she thought that the realtor was just fooling around.

The redhead winced. "Yes, I know how it sounds, but that's the only plausible explanation for the… _incidents_ that have been happening around the manor for the past sixty years or more."

"Like what?" Haru asked curiously in a low voice, like she still thought that it was a joke.

Angie sighed. "Well, after the last von Gikkingen died under mysterious circumstances, at the beginning of World War II, an old aunt of his used this manor to house the children sent from London to protect them from the bombers. A few Nazis came up to this place late one night, one can only assume to do harm to the children." She took a deep breath. "Every single one of those children still swear, at least the ones that are still alive, that those soldiers' weapons were stripped away by nothing more than the wind to hang high in the trees outside, the soldiers were left dangling in the air with nothing visible to keep them there, and a whip appeared from somewhere inside the manor to flog the Nazis to within an inch of their lives. One of the older children called the police, so there were some adult witnesses to the incident as well."

Haru thought about that for a moment. "Good," she concluded. "Anyone that threatens an innocent life _deserves_ a good flogging."

"That's not the only incident, though," Angie murmured, taking the girl by one elbow to lead her out of the foyer. "Here, let me show you."

The realtor proceeded to an informal sitting room just through a dark-stained door. "Nearly every tenant has made mention of the fireplace over there." She pointed to the pale marble masterpiece set directly into the wall. "One of the Baron's favorite tricks is lighting it in the middle of the night, without wood or flint."

"Is that the best he can come up with?" Haru asked with disappointment, staring at the old portrait hanging over the marble fireplace.

It was of an older woman with graying dark hair, sitting in an old-fashioned high back chair, her glittering green eyes calm and content. Just behind her stood a handsome young man with one gloved hand on the back of the chair in an almost protective gesture of the woman that almost _had _to be his mother. The man had slightly messy tawny hair underneath his formal grey top hat, and piercing green eyes that somehow seemed _alive_, but with an aching sadness that caught at her heart. His smile seemed a little too grim to be forever remembered in a portrait such as that.

'_That must be Baron Humbert von Gikkingen III,'_ the brunette concluded sadly. The last of the von Gikkingen line, and the supposed ghost of the manor.

"Oh, no," Angie assured her hastily. "That's just the one he uses to ensure that people know he's around. If you anger him, he usually takes more… drastic steps."

"Like?" the slim brunette prodded.

The realtor groaned, and led her out of the sitting room and down a long hallway. "I think the worst one was with the last tenant. He was bent on turning this place into a fancy bed and breakfast, complete with a giant swimming pool in the back. His workers only broke through the grass behind the house when things started going wrong. First, all of the machinery broke down, when it had worked fine only an hour before. Then an unseen hand took away all the shovels that Mr. Jones-that was the last tenant- ordered the workers to use instead, and they all broke like a stick over someone's knee." Angie shuddered. "Then the machinery started working again, but no one was driving it. It was _horrible_! I don't know all the technical names for machines, but the ones made to shovel dirt scooped up workers instead, and deposited them out on the border of the Baron's personal estate, a good mile down the road. Mr. Jones was the first of them to get tossed out, and he didn't ever have the courage to come back to this place."

Haru quirked an eyebrow. "Just how much land is attached to the house in legal terms?" she asked curiously, but not with the burning curiosity of one overly concerned with money.

"I'll show you the borders after we're done touring the house, if you wish, but off the top of my head, I'd say roughly ten square miles. But it's mostly mountain terrain with a lot of trees and such. I think there's even a waterfall somewhere."

Haru's smile became very content. "If you're trying to scare me with these stories, you're not being very successful."

"I'm not trying to scare you… necessarily. I just want to make sure that you understand that it might not be very safe to live here."

"_If _I get on the Baron's nerves, right? What if I don't manage to offend him?" the brunette asked shrewdly.

Angie froze for a second. "The last tenant to stay for over a month died ten years ago. He stayed in this house for maybe thirty years, but old Johnny always thought of himself as more of a caretaker than an actual owner. He was a very friendly old man, but no one would ever visit him here, or if it _did _happen, it was very rarely. I think even the Baron misses Johnny, since he doesn't waste any time getting rid of anyone else that tries to move in."

Haru thought about that. "Why don't you show me a little more?" she suggested. "Before I get stubborn about living here?"

"That would be best," the realtor said nervously. "Well, here's the music room." She opened one door, and urged the darkly clad girl inside.

Haru looked around with interest, noting just how many instrument cases were lined on shelves at one end of the room. There were yet more shelves, but these were covered with dusty music books.

But as Angie threw back a long dusty curtain to throw the dark room into light, Haru's attention became firmly fixed on the focal point of the room. Like a magnet, she was drawn to the dusty grand piano. She touched the painted wood gently once, disturbing the grey specks that had been resting there.

"Ah, yes," the realtor said gravely. "The Baron was a great music lover. If the stories are to be believed, he'd spend countless hours in here with nothing but the music to keep him company-what are you doing?!" she suddenly shrieked.

"Checking the keys," Haru said calmly, opening up the top of the piano before setting the prod up, leaning in to inspect the interior of the great instrument. "I doubt the Baron will mind terribly if I make sure that his piano is in perfect shape."

"Isn't there anything you _don't _know how to fix?" Angie demanded in exasperation.

Haru made to answer, but then stopped herself. Her large brown eyes became distant, and just for a second, filled with an unfathomable anguish.

Then she regained control of herself, and the look faded under a carefully contrived mask of indifference.

"Well," the brunette said gravely, feeling the many strings inside the piano delicately with her gloved fingers. "There are days when I just can't get the stupid pickle jar open."

Angie blinked slowly once, and then started giggling helplessly.

"Was it something I said?" Haru asked in mock-innocence, which only doubled the blue-eyed woman's mirth.

"Oh my… if the Baron has a sense of humor, he'll appreciate _you_."

"One can only hope," the slim brunette countered, pulling a small notepad out of her trench coat so she could write down what key strings needed to be replaced in the piano. "What else can you show me?"

Angie let out another giggle as they left the music room.

The rest of the house was more or less what Haru expected of the von Gikkingen estate. There was a formal drawing room, a large ball room, laundry room (with a fairly new washer and dryer, generously provided by Mr. Jones three years beforehand), a dusty kitchen (also sporting reasonably new but unused equipment from the last tenant), and a rather impressive library that _had _to have been loved by its original owner, to have such a large collection of books. Angie wasn't quite brave enough to show the brunette the attic or the basement, and the would-be tenant was too sympathetic of the realtor's fear to insist on seeing them.

What took the longest were the bedrooms. There were a grand total of twelve of them, but just as Haru stepped forward in the long hallway on the third floor to look at the last of them, Angie suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Not that one," she warned. "This is something you need to understand right now, Haru. You can't _ever_ go near that door."

"Why not?" Haru asked in confusion.

Angie sighed. "That door leads to the Baron's personal quarters. He tends to get touchy when someone tries to go in there. Some people are thrown back violently; others are merely picked up and moved down the hall. I think it depends on how fond the Baron is of the one trying to break in."

Haru blinked twice, and raised her hands in a defeated gesture. "I'll make it easy on him, and just leave it alone. Besides, the other rooms more than cover what I was hoping for."

"You still want to live here?" Angie asked with a sinking heart.

Haru nodded firmly, but noted the realtor's lack of enthusiasm. "What's the matter, Angelica? The manor's more than perfect for what I need."

"Maybe, but… this has happened a few too many times for me. Someone takes one look at the place, and immediately wants to move in, but then they offend the Baron somehow and they run away screaming and never come back. There was one tenant that was driven mad, and still claims that animals started talking to him while he lived here. You wouldn't believe the headache it brings, going through this place's paperwork twice within a month's time. I fear you'll probably be driven out as well," Angie concluded miserably.

Haru looked at the realtor with her dark eyes, and looked around the hallway longingly, thinking carefully. "Are you open to a compromise?" the brunette asked softly.

"What do you mean?" the red head asked slowly, looking up at her companion in confusion.

"Well, I'm still not sure if I believe that this place is haunted, but if it is, that would mean that the Baron would be the one to ultimately decide if I stay or go, correct?" the brunette prodded.

Angie nodded slowly. "Where is this thought going, Miss Haru?"

"_Before _I try to buy the place and give you another migraine, why not let the Baron decide?" Haru asked. "You keep mentioning how almost no one can live here for more than a month, so let's say that I move in for a month to see if the Baron can more or less stand my presence here. If he decides I can stay, we'll conclude the sale. If he'd prefer that I leave and never come back, then he'll be sure to let me know he feels that way, and I'll go back to my original plan of buying some land in another part of the mountain and paying someone to build a place I can call home. Either way would be to both yours and the Baron's benefit, wouldn't it?"

Angie stared at her in horror. "Why didn't _I _think of that when I first tried to sell this place?!" she yelled, banging one hand on her head in frustration. "All that paperwork! The _paperwork_!!"

"Stop hitting yourself," Haru said firmly, grabbing the offending fist before Angie could harm herself further. "If you want to try my idea, just say so."

"Let's try it," Angie said sullenly. "Even the Baron wouldn't object to a trial period. Just to be clear, Miss Haru; you _do _realize that this place is more than slightly on the expensive side?" The realtor didn't dare think about trying to lower the price and offending the resident ghost.

"Let _me _worry about that, Angelica," the brunette consoled her. "I wasn't lying when I said I didn't care about cost or size. I just want a place to call home, and I believe this is the place."

Realizing that nothing would change the girl's mind, Angie sighed in defeat. "Come on; I'll show you the borders of the estate lands and give you the spare keys in my office."

"Sounds like a plan," Haru agreed, clearly trying to keep her face under control, despite an ecstatic smile that crept past her guard.

As the brunette made to follow the realtor back down the hall, she suddenly noticed the large window next to her.

On the other side of the glass was a large oak tree, with the crow from before in its branches. It was staring at her again, but this time, she could have sworn that she saw shock in the dark bird's eyes, like he was just as surprised at her suggestion as Angie was.

Haru smiled at him, and bowed slightly from the waist before walking at a brisk pace to catch up to the realtor.

If she was going to live here, she should at least be respectful to the ones who had been here first.


	4. Common Courtesy

**Chapter Four: Common Courtesy**

Haru came back to the manor the next day in a brand new truck, one that the car dealer had promised her would be sturdy enough to be able to climb the mountain, even during the harsh winter months that the remote area was known for.

Since it was so handy, Haru parked her new car in the huge garage just left of the manor. There was enough room for at least five vehicles, but the only other car was an ancient-looking black one that was on the classy side which could have easily been sitting there since the Baron was alive.

Haru wouldn't know. Cars weren't really her forte, but she could probably fix one if she ever tried to. She sighed, and grabbed her duffel bag and suitcase; the grand total of what she had taken from her old life in Japan.

Stepping up to the front door, the slim brunette set the suitcase down to unclip her keys from the belt loop of the worn blue jeans she had purchased at a secondhand store after purchasing her truck yesterday, since she was sure that she would be cleaning today and she didn't want to ruin her good clothes. The slightly faded green turtleneck came from the same store, but the long black gloves were the same as before.

Haru slipped the key into the front door, but then got a slight prickling feeling at the back of her neck.

Her back straightened painfully, and her eyes narrowed in anger. Slowly, she turned around to see who was watching her.

It was the crow again, his dark eyes still looking at her curiously.

The tightness in her body immediately relaxed, and she laughed nervously. "You know, I'm really not cute enough for all this attention," she informed her feathered stalker. "Could you please go find a lady crow to flirt with for a while? I don't like being stared at."

The crow jerked around uncomfortably, but turned his back towards her on the white-painted porch and flew off.

"Thank you," she called to him, turning the key with one gloved hand and entering the manor.

Despite the dust hanging in the air, Haru couldn't resist taking a deep satisfied breath, trying to take in the peaceful serenity of the place. She looked around at all the dusty furniture, trying to decide what she should do first. Choose one of the bedrooms for herself?

The slim brunette sighed, shook her head at herself, and started walking for the sitting room, her luggage still firmly in hand. There was one little thing she needed to do first.

She opened up the door to the sitting room, and gently set her bags aside after closing it behind her. A little cautiously, she approached the portrait hanging over the marble fireplace. It could have been her imagination, but the Baron's eyes seemed a little less sad today, and a little more curious.

Haru sighed, and bowed from the waist towards the painting, feeling slightly better about trying to speak to the spectral lord if she had something to look at. "I don't know if you can hear me, good Baron." she told the young man in the portrait. "Or if you're even still around. But… if you are, then I'll assume that you overheard the deal I made with Mrs. Smith yesterday." The slim brunette bit her lip, wondering where to take the one-sided conversation from here.

"I don't know very much about you personally, or just what it is that would make you angry, but… I promise that I will do my best to respect you as a landlord, and I hope that you'll come to respect me as a tenant." She looked around the sitting room appreciatively. "I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, at least out loud, but I love this place. I don't plan to do anything to it except a standard cleaning and perhaps replacing some of the more worn items. I'll try to remember to ask you before I try to get rid of anything, just to be on the safe side of things." She looked up at the portrait again, and sighed.

"I hope to live here for a number of years with maybe a cat for company, but I think I'll wait until the month is up before I make any solid plans. Oh," she added with an embarrassed laugh. "I'm Yoshioka Haru, by the way, or just Haru. I apologize for not mentioning that earlier. Well, if you _are_ here, I hope you heard me." She bowed one more time, wondering if she was just making a fool of herself over a compelling urban legend.

The door creaked open behind her. She quickly turned around, but no one was there. A small smile crept onto her lips as she walked to the opened door, grabbing her luggage one the way out of the sitting room. _'I guess I better get used to doors and such opening by themselves.'_

The door closed behind her, and another door began to open down the hall. Stifling the seed of nervousness, Haru walked towards it at a calm pace. But just as she was about to reach it, it closed softly, and a door up the stairs began to creak open.

"Why am I starting to feel like I'm being led around by the nose?" she muttered to herself, climbing up the stairs as her arms and shoulder began to ache in protest from carrying her bags.

Unlike the first door, the second one stayed open as she approached it. She looked in, remembering it from the tour she had taken the day before.

This particular room was obviously intended for a female, with a theme of pale blue and white present on the walls and canopied bed, but at least it wasn't excessively covered with lace like a little girl's room. In a corner was an open door that led to a spacious bathroom, so she wouldn't need to run around the house in a bathrobe. She strongly approved of that, especially since she was living with a spectral male.

Haru smiled brightly, and carried her luggage in. "Thank you, Baron. This one should be just fine."

Of course, it didn't take her longer than an hour to get settled into the room, since most of her luggage was clothes. But there _were _a few treasured items nestled safely between her modest silk blouses and skirts.

The slim brunette gently eased out one glass-covered frame, and stared at the picture within longingly.

It was herself, working on a quilt with her dear departed grandmother when Haru was still in high school. They were on the same side of the wooden quilting frame, with one arm wrapped around each other in order to pose for the picture with happy smiles on their faces, quilting needles jokingly raised high like weapons of war.

True, they had more formal pictures taken together, but this was the one that Haru loved the most, since it was the one that best showed the extraordinarily strong bond between her maternal grandmother and herself. A tear fell down one cheek as she kissed her grandmother's face once, and then set the modest picture on the small bedside table with gentle hands.

She sighed again, and removed a few more articles of clothing from the suitcase so she could rescue her laptop and plug it in to charge.

Once she was done unpacking, Haru stretched a bit, and walked out of the room, down the stairs, and back out the front door.

She had left a number of bags' worth of cleaning supplies and groceries out in the truck, and figured that since it was noon, now would be a good time to break for lunch before she began cleaning.

She scooped up four heavy bags from the back of her truck, and walked out of the slightly cold garage again.

Haru suddenly stopped in her tracks, staring at the front porch of her new home.

An abnormally fat cat was lying across the space in front of the manor's door, lazily licking one paw, looking for all the world like he belonged there,. His fur was white with a hint of cream, and just a touch of brown on his left ear.

The pale brunette stared in astonishment. "There's no _way _getting a cat can be this easy," she whispered to herself. She had been planning on adopting a cat after the month's trial.

But… if there was one here anyway…

Haru smiled warmly at the fat cat while climbing up the stairs. "Hello there," she greeted the large white feline, setting two of the bags down so she could open the door. "Would you like to come inside for a tuna sandwich and slice of angel food cake? I'm afraid the cake's only store bought, but it shouldn't be _too_ bad."

The fat cat's ears perked up eagerly, and he nearly scrambled to get inside the manor as she picked up her bags and followed him in, closing the door a little clumsily with her foot behind her.

The cat seemed to have an innate sense of direction, because he led her straight to the kitchen and hopped expertly onto one of the polished wooden chairs at the small breakfast table in the corner. He turned in the chair to look at her expectantly, nearly quivering in his excitement.

"I take it I'm not the first tenant that offered you food," Haru said dryly, setting her bags on the dusty counter. The white cat jerked around nervously, and even managed to look a little guilty as she quickly took a sponge to rid the tabletop of the dust before mixing up a bowl of thick tuna salad for the sandwiches.

She placed one sandwich in front of the cat on a paper towel, and turned around to make herself a sandwich.

But before she could so much as spoon the salad onto a slice of bread, the cat started meowing at her. Haru looked up, a little surprised that the sandwich was already gone. The cat was looking at her with huge pleading eyes, making her laugh softly before preparing another sandwich for him.

She stopped laughing after the cat's fifth sandwich.

"You've had seven," Haru said pointedly, biting into her own sandwich as the cat mewed pitifully at her. "I can't eat seven in a whole day! I think you're safe from starvation now. Besides," she continued coaxingly while sitting across from him at the small table. "-any more sandwiches, and you won't have room for the angel food cake or strawberries I bought."

The fat white cat immediately stopped mewing at her. The slim brunette bit back a giggle, deciding that the one way to convince the cat to stay was just to keep offering him food. She looked up at the ceiling, swallowing her mouthful of sandwich.

"I'm going to ask this cat to stay, Baron. If you don't approve, please let me know and I'll drop the idea." She looked down at the cat who was staring at her incredulously. "How about it?" she asked him. "There's plenty of room in this manor, and I don't expect you to do anything except maybe chase mice, if there's any around, and occasionally listen to me ramble about random things. I'm a pretty decent cook, as you'll see for yourself after I whip this kitchen into shape, but I'm slightly obsessed with cleanliness and music. So, what do you say?"

The fat cat was staring at her even worse than before, his small black eyes wide with shock. But he eventually got over it, hopped onto the table in order to walk across it, and lick her cheek once.

She giggled and scratched his ears with one gloved hand. "I'll take that as a yes from both of you, since you didn't object, Baron." She looked at the cat's face carefully, knowing she'd have to come up a name for him. "Would you mind terribly if I call you Muta?"

The fat cat cocked his head to the side for a second, and then meowed lazily while shaking his head slightly.

She gave him another smile was standing up from her chair. "All right then, Muta. Please get off the table so I can give you that slice of angel food cake I promised, with strawberries."

He was off the table before she had even worked the plastic-covered cake out of the shopping bag, and back in his seat, purring deeply at his new mistress.

'_I __**like **__this one!' _he thought gleefully. _'Sure hope Baron does, too.'_


	5. Musical Maniac

**Chapter Five: Musical Maniac**

Three days after moving into the manor, Haru finally made her way back into the music room. Before this, her concern had been for the flower beds, the kitchen, and her own bedroom. The laundry room was operating again, constantly running dusty sheets and curtains through the wash in an attempt to keep up with the cleaning spree that the slim brunette was throwing herself into.

Haru couldn't ask for a better arrangement, she concluded, carefully pulling off a large harp's fabric case so she could see what needed to be fixed. She got a lot of chores to help keep her busy, and her invisible host got a clean house. He _couldn't _have been too happy with how it had been deteriorating over the years.

"I hope you don't mind if I check over your instruments, Baron," she said aloud, carefully testing each of the many strings with her always-gloved fingers. "I think it's a crying shame to see them in disrepair, but that's just me."

He didn't answer her, but then, he rarely did. Most of the time, he just let her do as she pleased.

She usually listened to the collection of music off of her laptop while cleaning the various rooms and halls of the manor, but felt that the artificial songs were unnecessary for cleaning this particular room, since there was only one way to be sure that the instruments were working properly. So far, her laptop's music hadn't managed to offend Baron, or so she supposed, since he didn't do anything to let her know that he found it offensive.

Haru sighed as she finished polishing the harp, sat down in the chair just behind it, and leaned the large instrument into her shoulder gently to test it out. Her slim fingers rose a little higher then chest level, and began to strum softly into a lullaby that seemed to have no name or origin, but was nonetheless lovely.

As her fingers played the harp thoughtfully, Haru couldn't help but wonder just why the other tenants had such trouble with Baron. He really didn't seem to care what she did, so why were the others so terrified?

Was he being nice because she was a girl? The stories she had heard of him had suggested that the Baron was a true gentleman, but would he really put up with her just out of chivalry?

Muta had waddled through the open door, and curled up next to her chair to listen to the slim brunette's song.

"I told you I was obsessed with music," she informed the fatso, who shrugged lazily.

Finished with her song, Haru carefully eased the harp off of her shoulder and shook the fabric case firmly to rid it of the dust and cover the harp again. "This one was fine, Baron. It just needed a good dusting."

She reached for another case, and opened it to reveal an antique violin. Haru whistled appreciatively while raising it out of the case, which had protected it against the dust quite well.

"Rosewood, I'd say close to seventy-five years old. Remarkably good condition…" She touched the top of the strings carefully. "And just a little worn. It'd be a good idea to replace the strings soon." She set the violin down, and got out her familiar notepad so she could write 'complete set of violin strings-standard' for her next trip into town. She slipped the notepad back into her pocket, and stroked the bow thoughtfully before dusting off the amber-colored piece of rosin that had been lying in the case next to it.

"Still…" she mused as she ran the rosin across the bow's strings a few times before picking up the violin and tightened the strings slightly. "Those old strings should be good for at least one more song." She eased the bigger side of the wooden instrument against her shoulder blade, set her fingers in the correct places, and brought the bow to the strings gently.

She played Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture, a rather sad piece that seemed to embody the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet, which was of course was what it was meant to do. Haru's favorite parts were the slightly fast dramatic ones that brought breathtaking swordfights to her mind. The overly flowery love part just made her remember love-sick cartoons from her childhood.

She laughed ironically. Out of all the parts in a tragic love story, she liked the swordfights best. It figured.

Muta was gaping at her by the time she finished with a dramatic flair, perhaps because she had done the entire piece without so much as glancing at a music sheet.

She laughed nervously from his awestruck gaze, and gently set the violin back in its case before snapping it shut. "Sorry. I have a photographic memory for music," she explained while reaching for a flute case. "My grandma was a firm believer in a well-rounded education."

"Meow!" Muta suddenly yelled, and ran over to the grand piano, patting one of its legs insistently while looking at the human girl pleadingly. "Meow meow. Purr?"

Haru stared for a few seconds, but then laughed at him, and walked over to where she had left the new strings for the large black instrument. "Looks like I've got a piano enthusiast on my hands. All right, I'll do the piano next, Muta."

The fat cat purred happily and rubbed against her leg with real affection as she leaned in with a soft cloth, and carefully removed the dust that was hiding the lovely black polish, occasionally flicking the rag off to one side so she could sweep up the loose dust later. After the dust was taken care of, Haru took out her trusty little pocketknife, and gently eased the worn strings loose enough to remove them. It didn't take very long to open the new ones out of their packages and ease them into the vacant spaces.

"Meowww," Muta pleaded with her, his heart catching in his throat.

"Just a second," Haru said firmly. "If I'm going to bother fixing this, then I'm going to do it right. There!" She eased herself out of the top of the piano, and leaned back slightly to make her back pop back into place. "Since you're so taken with the piano, why don't _you _pick out the next piece?"

Muta was already on his way to the shelves full of music, so she followed him with a smile of amusement. With one white paw, he carefully eased one music book loose from the bottom shelf.

Curiously, Haru leaned over and took the old book from her cat so she could look at the cover. She sharply bit back a girlish squeal of excitement.

"A genuine _Renaldo Moon_?!" The brunette wrapped one arm around the fat feline and squeezed him fondly. "How did you know he's my favorite composer?!"

Muta's jaw dropped incredulously as the girl stood up and nearly ran back to the piano.

"This is so _cool_! I don't think I know this one, either!" With surprising care, considering her obvious excitement, she opened the old book and set it gently in front of the ivory and ebony keys. The slim girl sat at the black bench she had just dusted off, and placed her fingers on the piano keys.

The first time she ran through the song, it was a little shaky, and there were some unnecessary pauses as she hesitated. The second time was much smoother, but not quite perfect. And, as it usually was with her, the third time was the charm, and she executed the song perfectly. This one wasn't as melancholy as what she was used to, just verging on a triumphant air that was made to raise spirits from the darkest despair.

A joyful smile came unbidden to her lips, now that she was no longer on her guard.

Unnoticed, one glass window clicked open by itself, just enough so that the crow outside could hear the music. As usual, the bird in question was staring at the girl, his beak slightly agape with shock.

After five times through the song, Haru forced herself to stop, certain that overexposure to any one song would be enough to drive Baron wild. She turned around in the bench in order to grin widely at a very content feline.

"_Thank you_, Muta. I should have realized sooner that this would be the one sure place on the planet to find Renaldo Moon's music. It's almost impossible to find, back in Japan." She reached down and scratched his ears affectionately. "And even then, it was pure chance that I even found out that he existed. No one over there quite understands what they're missing out on, even when I try to tell them." The smile began to slip from her face, and she turned around on the bench again to play a minor key of the piece she had just been playing, but it now lacked the triumphant air that had sent the melody soaring before.

"Hiromi, my old best friend, could never understand why I was so obsessed with Renaldo Moon's talent. I used to think that she had no ear for music, but she…" A terrible ache began to throb in her chest, in the place where her heart was supposed to be. She wasn't quite sure what was there now.

Perhaps nothing but a big hole. That would explain a lot.

"Meow?" Muta prodded, nudging one of her legs with his little paw.

Haru suddenly realized the thought she had been threatening to finish. "Well, she only likes music from new and fresh rock and roll artists. You know; the ones that like to scream into the microphone like dying monkeys."

Muta began a snorting coughing fit, almost like he was struggling hard not to laugh.

A soft chuckle escaped her own throat. "Yeah. I never understood her preference, either. She didn't even like playing music, just listening to it. Nearly everyone I knew in Japan only listened. To the music, anyway."

Never to her personally, though. Unless they knew a huge paycheck was attached to her words.

'_Knock it off, Haru! You've come halfway across the world to __**forget**__ about those back-stabbers! You're better off without them!' _She sighed and got off the bench before she could sink any deeper into melancholia. "I'm going to take a nap for a while, Muta. I'll make dinner when I wake up, okay?"

"Meow purr," he said softly, and watched her walk out of the room with labored steps.

Haru usually took a nap right after lunch to regain her strength, but she had entirely forgotten about food for the present. She was so sunk into her own little world, she didn't even think to wonder why Muta wasn't putting up a fight about skipping out on lunch today.

She glanced up to notice she was walking down _the _hallway. The slim brunette pointedly turned her head to the wall opposite of the Baron's forbidden door, firmly walking past it like she usually did so that her ghostly host wouldn't think that she was getting tempted to try breaking in.

She didn't know about the other tenants, but she personally felt that it was on the slightly scandalous side to try to break into a man's personal bedroom, and she owed the Baron that small courtesy.

She sat on her freshly made bed, kicked off the cream-colored slippers she customarily wore inside the house, and curled up on the top of her sheets in a fetal position. She rubbed her head against the soft pillow, and waited to fall asleep.

'_Why am I still thinking about life in Japan? I'm much happier here. This place has everything I could possibly want. Absolutely __**everything**__. Yeah, keep telling yourself that. It'll be true after I forget about the other things.' _Slowly, her large brown eyes closed, and she drifted into a semi-peaceful slumber.

After she was sound asleep, the soft blanket that she kept folded at the foot of the bed rose up on its own, unfolded in the air, and then drifted gracefully over the young woman's form. An invisible hand pulled the blanket over the slim brunette's shoulder, and gently brushed a few stray hairs from her face.

"_Sleep well, Miss Haru. You've earned it."_

Suddenly, the invisible hand stiffened, and gently smoothed the hairs back so that the roots of the young woman's slightly messy brown hair could be examined.

Except for the fact that none could be seen. She was wearing a _wig_.

With excruciating care, the wig slowly peeled away from the girl's scalp so that the resident ghost could see just what the girl was hiding.

Her real hair seemed much the same as the wig's, except that it was cropped barely half an inch long, and highlighted the many brutal scars that crisscrossed over her scalp and down the back of her neck like a war zone, the cuts clearly continuing far into the places she always kept covered, even in the hottest weather. There were even places where the scalp had been visibly removed by someone who clearly _couldn't_ have been a professional in haircutting or surgery.

On top of that, he could tell that the injuries had been inflicted within the past year, perhaps in just the past six months.

Haru whimpered fearfully in her sleep, and unconsciously reached out of the blanket to pull the realistic wig back over her head with a vice-like grip. Tears streamed from her eyes as she hugged her pillow against her face, and started weeping heartbroken Japanese phrases in her sleep, a language that her silent companion was sadly unfamiliar with.

The ghost of Baron Humbert von Gikkingen forced himself to leave her at that point. He had the strong desire to blow something up again, and he doubted the girl would appreciate it very much if he made her windows shatter while she was trying to rest.

"_I hope she plans on explaining those scars soon. I'll take great pleasure in shredding whoever did that to her with a cheese grater," _he muttered to himself furiously as he stomped noiselessly away from his tenant's room.


	6. Herb Heaven

**Chapter Six: Herb Heaven**

Haru took one heavy bag of flour off of the shelf and placed it carefully at the bottom of her nearly overflowing cart, so that she could push it towards the checkout line. With a smile, she reasoned with herself that even if she had managed to forget something, she simply didn't have any room for other purchases.

Idly, she looked at the magazine covers as she waited in line, tapping her thumb against the cart in boredom.

"Um… miss?"

Haru looked over to see a pimply-faced teenage boy smiling nervously at her, wearing a store vest with a nametag on it.

"My lane's open, if you want to get out of here faster," Billy said hesitantly.

She smiled at him and followed him back to his empty checkout line. "Thank you, Billy."

"Huh?" the boy asked, but then looked down at his nametag. "Oh, right," he laughed nervously.

'_Something tells me this one's played one too many video games,' _Haru thought to herself, loading her purchases onto the moving counter so that the boy could scan and place them into plastic bags.

"So… are you new around here?" the boy asked nervously.

"You could say that," Haru said politely while pulling out her checkbook to write down the amount she owed the grocery store.

"Cool. So, which one do you go to? School, I mean?" he asked while blushing a little. "Because I haven't seen you around Sacred Heart High."

The slim brunette looked up at the boy, and had to fight back a groan of frustration. _'You've got to be kidding me! Even here?!' _"I graduated from college six years ago," she said firmly, making her voice slightly lower to help the boy realize that she was _not _a high school student on the dating market.

Billy must have gotten the point, because he flushed darkly with embarrassment, and quickly ran her check through his machine and gave her the receipt. "My mistake. Have a nice day, ma'am."

"You too, young man," she replied courteously, and wheeled her cart out of the store at a calm pace as the other cashiers began to snicker evilly at their comrade's humiliation.

Once she was safely on the side of her truck that was facing away from the store, Haru allowed herself to scowl angrily as she loaded her purchases into the back of her truck.

The fact that she still looked like a child had given her a lot of trouble, ever since she started college eight years ago. Despite the fact that it had taken her only two years to complete an eight-year business master's degree, she still had to talk quickly in order to ensure that people would take her semi-seriously.

"At least _Angelica_ didn't make an issue of my age," she consoled herself while stepping into her car, and turning on the ignition.

Of course… looking like a schoolgirl _did _have its high points. The elaborate scheme she had devised to keep her true location a secret from those _monsters_ was rather brilliant. Hiring ten lookalikes to publicly travel to other parts of Japan under her name a week _after _she had already left for China under the guise of a youthful nun-in-training was a stroke of genius, but she may have gone overboard with hiring senile old people to pose as a random relative as she slowly made her way across the continent under various names and disguises. Even her current last name, 'Yoshioka', was just a ruse to fool the feeble-minded, since none of the English names she could find really suited her for a long-term basis.

As far as she could tell, the ruse was still working. She sighed sadly while pulling out her little notepad again, to see if she had forgotten anything.

No she had everything. Haru was about to close the small book, but then a very small arrow at the lower left corner of the right page caught her eye. It was pointing to the side, like it was urging her to turn the page, despite the fact that the whole list was right in front of her.

Knowing that she hadn't put the arrow there, Haru turned the page curiously.

_Ragwart, kava kava, lavender, milk thistle… _was written in her little notepad with a beautifully flowing calligraphy, along with several other items.

Haru stared at the list incredulously. _'These look like herbs of some kind. But… who could have possibly written… Baron? Why would __**he **__want these?'_

The slim brunette sighed, and eased her way out of the store's parking lot to start looking for an herbal shop. If Baron wanted these items enough to go this far, the least she could do was get them for him.

It didn't take her more than five minutes to find a homey little shop called 'Herb Heaven'. A little nervously, she pulled up in front of it, and stepped through the door.

A small bell tinkled as Haru stepped in, making a middle-aged woman look up from her conversation with a young girl that looked much like her. "Can we help you, miss?" the older woman asked.

Haru nodded, and fished out the notepad from the pocket in her favorite black trench coat. "I hope so, ma'am. A friend of mine asked me to pick these up for him." It was as close to the truth as she was going to get.

"Let me see, dear," the tall blonde woman said, holding one hand out for the brunette's notepad. Haru handed it over reluctantly after turning it to the correct page, and the woman looked at it carefully. "Just one moment, dear. This shouldn't take all that long. Would your friend prefer these in small, medium, or large containers?"

"I have no idea what he's planning to do with these, so 'big', please. Thank you," the brunette said gratefully, looking around the shop with interest. It had tall free-standing wooden shelves lined with clear glass jars filled with every kind of herb imaginable, with fresh ones hanging upside down overhead to scent the air in the tiny shop.

"Like it?" the younger blonde asked shyly, obviously the older woman's daughter.

"It's lovely," Haru said truthfully, moving her way slowly through the shelves. "I had no clue a place like this was around here."

"This shop's been around forever," the blonde girl said with a shrug. "Mum's the fourth generation to own it in the family."

Haru smiled. "How lucky you are." Suddenly, the brunette thought of something else she had been meaning to ask. "Then, you know quite a bit about herbs and such, right?"

"That's right," the girl said proudly. "Did you need help with something besides your friend's list?"

"Yes, actually," Haru admitted. "Do you know anything about how to make completely natural paints that can last?"

The blue-eyed girl stared at her. "Well, what were you planning to paint?"

Haru's gloved fists clenched, but she still answered. "I've always wanted to be a toymaker, but I don't want to take any more shortcuts than I have to."

The girl gasped softly. "You mean, like a _Drosselmeyer_?"

"Exactly," Haru said with a smile. "I grew up hearing stories about the real ones, and they make much better role models than what I've personally seen. I know goldenrod's supposed to make a lovely yellow, but do you know anything else that could help me?"

"Y-yes!" the girl squealed excitedly. "Walnuts have a great dark brown color, but it's a little tough to get them to release that color. Mum says that the best way to get them to release that color is to leave the walnuts on the driveway and run over them a couple times."

Haru tried to fight back a giggle. "So, what did they use before cars were invented? A wagon?"

"Actually, I think it was a horse. It'd have been too much trouble to hook up the wagon for just a couple walnuts," the shop girl attempted to say through her hopeless laughter.

Haru couldn't hold in her giggles anymore. It felt kind of nice, to finally just be able to laugh.

"Miss? Ah, Miss?"

The slim brunette turned enough to see the shop owner, now standing behind an ancient counter with two large paper bags that were clearly stuffed to the brim. Haru beamed at the older woman, and whipped out her checkbook.

"How much do I owe?"

"Thirty-" the woman tried to say, but then her daughter stopped her.

"Hold it, Mum. Do we still have that one book on making natural paints?"

"The one Toto Drosselmeyer wrote?"

Haru's heart froze over as the girl nodded. "I… didn't know he wrote a book," the brunette said carefully.

"Well, he wrote just that one. There are some rumors that he was working on another book for carving wooden toys when he died, but no one's been able to confirm that." The owner took a good look at her customer's face, a little surprised to see the clear longing in those shimmering brown orbs. "Rachel, keep the young lady company while I see if I can find that book."

"Sure thing," the younger blonde chirruped as her mother bolted for the back of the shop. "You're sure in luck that you chose to come here," Rachel confided. "Copies of old Drosselmeyer's book are pretty rare, even around here."

"I'll pay whatever your mother asks for," Haru said fervently as her heart pounded in her chest. "If there's anyone I wished to speak to for advice in toy making, it's Toto Drosselmeyer."

Rachel nodded, leaning against the counter lazily. "Yeah, he was the best. He made that clock over there." She pointed to a medium brown grandfather clock in the corner, tastefully carved with leaves and lilies.

Wondering why she didn't spot it sooner, Haru walked toward it, and held her ear against the front, which was as silent as the grave. "Let me guess; this one doesn't work either?"

"Nah, but there was this one Japanese girl my aunt helped that managed to permanently… fix her… Drosselmeyer…" Rachel's voice trailed off in shock as Haru opened the front door and started inspecting the inside.

The brunette shook her head in disgust as she unfolded her trusty little pocketknife. "Honestly, there are only a few springs that fell out of place in this one. An _apprentice _could have fixed this up within two minutes."

"The springs keep popping loose again," Rachel said in a soft voice, still staring at the dark woman in front of her.

"Then they obviously forgot to pop the gear supporting them back into place after slipping the springs back in. There," she said as the clock gave an audible click. Haru stood up, folded her pocketknife back into her pocket, and shut the door to the grandfather clock. She felt the top for the customary place to hold the key, and slipped it into the tiny hole.

The shopkeeper walked back into the room with an old book in her arms just as Haru began winding the clock with one hand and setting it to the correct time with the other. The blondes stared in amazement as the brunette pulled the key out, and the family heirloom began ticking for the first time in years.

"See, Rachel? It was just a minor problem to begin with. I've never had any professional training in clockwork, and even _I _could fix it. Oh, hello, ma'am."

The shop owner stared a little longer at the dark girl in front of her, and swallowed hard. "So… _you're _Miss Haru?"

"That's right, ma'am. Is _that _Toto Drosselmeyer's book?" she asked with undisguised interest.

The older blonde nodded numbly, and handed the slim brunette the book.

Haru's gloved hands shook slightly as she took the leather-bound treasure, and tenderly traced the slightly worn author's name engraved on the front. She smiled happily, and held the worn book against her chest like she was embracing a long-lost child. "Name your price, ma'am. I'll pay anything you ask for this book."

"Don't worry about that, dear. Fixing my beloved clock is payment enough."

"But it was such a minor problem!" Haru protested.

The older woman shook her head firmly. "If it's so minor, then how come you're the first person to be able to make that clock work in the past fifty-eight years?"

Haru's heart froze in alarm. "Maybe clocks just like me more," she offered with a nervous giggle.

"Well, that much is clear. _Please_, Miss Haru. The one you fixed for my sister-in-law is still working like its brand new, and I'm certain that this one will work for a long time as well. The experts that keep insisting they can fix a Drosselmeyer couldn't do a thing, and they actually asked for money to fix it where you did it just because you wanted to. Take the book with my blessing, dear girl."

Haru stared at the woman, and held her treasure closer. "Thank you, ma'am. Well, how much are the herbs?"

"Twenty-seven pounds and three pence," the woman said firmly, giving the girl a nice discount on the herbs besides the Drosselmeyer book.

Haru signed the check without hesitation. "This really is a nice little shop. I'll have to come here again."

"We'd be happy to have you, dear. I hope you'll enjoy that book."

"Oh, I _know _I will." Haru handed the woman the check, but then her limbs became numb. "Um… there was something I wanted to ask your sister-in-law, but it slipped my mind."

"Feel free, dear. What's troubling you?"

Haru took a deep breath through her nostrils for courage. "How… did the Baron von Gikkingen, Renaldo Moon, with Toto and Louise Drosselmeyer… die? Nothing I've researched or heard really said what happened to them that night fifty-eight years ago."

The shop owner looked up at her sharply, and sighed sadly while handing the girl her receipt. "That's because _no one_ knows, dear. No one, except the spirits that inhabit the von Gikkingen manor, knows what happened the night they disappeared. And the Baron makes sure that it stays that way by scaring off anyone that tries to find out."


	7. A Lying Feline

**Chapter Seven: A Lying Feline**

Haru's thoughts were troubled, as she drove up the mountain road again. _'Would Baron get angry with me, if I asked him how he and his best friends died? How would he be able to tell me if I asked?' _She sighed tiredly, and waited for that one elm that she always saw just before the von Gikkingen gates, pondering over the strange dilemma.

But just as she saw it, she heard _voices_.

"At least I'm not the bird brain around here!"

"You already called me that, you idiot! Haven't you had enough time by now to think of a better insult than that?!"

Haru's heart froze as she pulled up to the iron gates. With a terrible fear surging through her blood, she put one hand over her small stun gun that she always kept on her person and under her long trench coat while out of the estate's grounds, and hopped out of her truck so she could see just who was in front of the manor on the other side of the tall iron gate.

Muta had been let out of the house before she had left for town, and he seemed to be in an epic battle with the crow that was bent on stalking her. The dark bird in question suddenly looked over at her, visibly shuddered while still in the air, and began cawing madly while making another nose dive for the fat feline that rolled along the cobblestones like a partially deflated basketball.

He rolled to an upright position, and opened his mouth to possibly hiss in hostility. But then he saw Haru standing on the outside of the gates, and froze while standing on his hind feet.

If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn that she saw fear in his small black eyes. After a moment, he got back on all four of his feet, and ran towards the tree that the crow had landed on to start hissing angrily and trying to climb it as the crow cawed at him mockingly.

Haru stared at them for another second, and nervously looked around from her place outside the gates. Didn't Angelica promise her that she would be alone up here?

The thick constraining chain that was meant to keep out intruders suddenly fell away on its own, and the gate slowly opened wide for her.

Haru bit her lip, and got into her car again. "Thank you, Baron." She pulled up in front of her home so that she could unload the many groceries before putting the truck back in the garage.

But before she reached in the back for the many bags, she headed straight for the fat feline that was busy trying to climb the tree. "Muta."

The large white cat flinched noticeably, and turned slowly to look at her with horrified eyes.

She kneeled on the cold stone driveway so that the distance between them wouldn't be as great. "Did anyone stop by while I was gone?" she asked as her soul slowly turned into ice from fear.

"Meow meow," he assured her in his gruff voice while shaking his head insistently.

"Then why did I hear voices when I was driving up? I _know _I heard a bird brain comment."

The cat stiffened in horror, and kept shaking his head insistently.

"Is that your final word on the subject?" Haru asked sadly.

Muta nodded his head firmly.

Haru sighed in disappointment, and stood up. "Well, if anyone else shows up, I hope you'll at least tell me about _them_. There are some unscrupulous characters that would just _**love**_ to find out where I am, so they can pay me back for ratting them out to the authorities for some very serious offenses, and they aren't exactly gentlemen. Just keep that in mind for the next time you lie to me, Muta. I certainly hope that you have a good reason for hiding the truth from me _this _time."

The cat's fat jaw dropped nearly to the ground as she turned away from him, and headed back to her truck so that she could start taking in the many purchases, every nerve in her body tautly wound, in case the strangers were still around and she needed to use her stun gun after all. Even the crow looked more than a little stunned at the girl's almost casual acceptance of possible assassins.

Or maybe just the fact that she was in a position to worry about them in the first place.

Haru grabbed the two full paper bags from the small herbal store first, and brought them through the long hallways to the kitchen. "I'm assuming that _you're _the one who wrote all those herbs into my notepad, Baron. Well, I managed to get all of them for you. You forgot to mention how much you wanted of each, so I got you big jars to be on the safe side." She set the herb bags on the counter, and fished out her beloved Drosselmeyer book and set it with the cookbooks after rubbing it affectionately against her cheek for a second. "This one's mine, though. Everything else in these bags is yours. Hope you enjoy them." She bowed politely to the air in front of her, and walked back out of the kitchen to retrieve the groceries.

Before she even walked out of the door, Haru could hear the glass jars in the bag being removed and set on the marble counter in a neat line.

Each time she returned to the kitchen and the storeroom attached to it with her groceries, Baron had made some progress with the herbs and the tall silver teapot she had previously polished to a mirror hue two weeks beforehand. The tall teapot was now boiling water on the sleek metal stove Mr. Jones had set in a few years before.

Haru bit back a giggle as she eased the huge flour bag onto one of the shelves in the storeroom. Why would Baron make tea when he couldn't even drink it?

She got her answer when all of her purchases were safely put away, and her truck was parked in the garage once again. She gratefully sat down at the small breakfast table to rest for a few minutes. _'Fish stew sounds really good right now. I think I'll make some with fresh rolls for dinner tonight. Yeah, I'll start cooking it after I rest a little. I had no idea that this trip into town would last so long.'_

A chink of china suddenly caught her ears, making her look over at the counter. The tall silver teapot was pouring a steady stream of brown tea into a plain white teacup with a single stripe of blue along the rim. The fresh milk she had just put into the refrigerator decided to come out, open itself, and pour a modest amount into the teacup. A small silver spoon stirred the mixture together, and clinked against the rim of the cup once to shake off the remaining liquid. Setting the spoon aside, the teacup rose from its place, saucer and all, and carefully floated over to her, so it wouldn't spill the specially prepared liquid.

The cup floated in the air in front of her, like it fully expected her to take it.

Haru stared at the cup incredulously, since it was the most unusual thing Baron had ever done while she was actually watching. "You seriously went through all that effort, _just _to make me a cup of tea?" she asked the air in front of her.

The teacup bobbed up and down like an elevator shaft, or a head nodding yes.

For a whole minute, Haru couldn't think of anything to say. "I'm really touched, Baron. No one's ever made me a cup of tea from scratch before." A little curious, the slim brunette took the saucer in one gloved hand, and used the other to raise the modest teacup to her lips and sip the warm liquid. She swished it around in her mouth a little, and swallowed numbly. "_Wow_," she whispered reverently. "I've never tasted tea like _that _before. Is this your personal blend?"

The spoon from the counter rose from its place, floating over to the table to rest on it. The mouthpiece for the spoon rose while the tip of the handle stayed balanced on the table. Like a steady hand was holding it, the spoon bowed to her in the manner she often bowed to Baron.

She blinked once, and giggled. "Wait, I get it. That means yes, right?"

The spoon bowed to her again.

"Then would moving it sideways count as no?"

Another yes.

Haru bit her lip nervously. "Baron, will _you _tell me the truth, if I ask you a question?"

Yes.

"There _were _people outside the manor when I was coming back from town, right?"

He answered yes after a moment's hesitation.

"And Muta knew who they were?"

Yes.

"_Does_ he have a good reason for covering it up?"

Yes.

Haru took another sip of her tea, and nervously traced the rim of it with one of her gloved fingers. "Are the strangers anyone I should be afraid of?"

The spoon firmly bobbed sideways, the ghostly lord telling her a definite no.

She sighed once in defeat, and sipped her tea while tucking her feet comfortably underneath her chair. "Thanks, Baron. I've never been the best judge of human character, and frankly, if I can't trust _you_, then I can't really trust _anyone_, can I?"

The spoon fell over, like her ghostly companion had absolutely no idea of how to react to that statement.

Haru kept sipping her tea thoughtfully. "I wish I were, though. Good at judging a person's true character, I mean. I could have saved myself so much trouble and pain, if I only knew how to see what people are like when they take off their masks." A few tears escaped down her cheek before she realized that she was even crying. She pulled out a handkerchief from her coat pocket and angrily brushed the tears away.

"Why does everyone think that they even _need_ a mask, anyway? I mean, I was forced to use one after… after my grandma died, and my so-called 'father' took me under his wing. Emotions and smiling were strictly forbidden, whenever he was around, and everyone who worked for him weren't allowed to have friendships based on anything except wealth and position. I was miserable, working for him after I got finished early with high school and college. The paycheck was more than generous, but looking back… I wish I had just followed my heart and gotten out of that stupid company as soon as I turned eighteen." A sad ironic smile played upon her lips as she finished her tea.

"About the only good thing I can say for my unappreciated years of devoted service is that I have more than enough money to support living here until I can fulfill _my _dream of becoming a real toy maker, and not my so-called 'father's' dream of making him ridiculously rich. Been there, done that for eight _long_ years. It's time for something new." Suddenly, she slapped one hand against her mouth in horror.

"I'm so sorry, Baron. I didn't mean to give you a speech."

A strange feeling came over her body about then. For the past several months, her body had felt cold and tight, but suddenly, the stiffness was coming from the outside, instead of the inside, and her immovable arms felt a cool pressure around them and her torso, almost like…

"If I didn't know any better," Haru said slowly, "I'd swear that you're hugging me right now."

The spoon rose from the table again, and bowed affirmingly to her as the cool feeling brushed against the side of her face, like Baron was holding his cheek against hers in a gesture of comfort.

The slim brunette smiled shyly, and raised her hand to where she supposed Baron's arm was. There was a spot of cool air there, almost verging on solidity. She ran her hand along the slightly cold spot, realizing that it had the same shape of an arm. Even the folds of her clothes were pressed against her body like there really was someone embracing her.

Only one man had ever held her so intimately before, and that hadn't even been her 'father', if one wanted to call _him_ that. But somehow, Haru felt certain that Baron's intentions were more honorable than the last one to hold her had been.

Now that she was certain where his arm was, she made an accurate guess as to where his back was, and placed her arm over it in order to semi-hug her invisible companion back, despite the fact that if she didn't keep her own arm suspended in the air, it'd go right through Baron's insubstantial form. "I'm going to take this to mean that you don't mind if I talk to you about personal things."

The spoon bowed to her again.

"It sure would be nice, if I could hear you _vocally_ answer me when I talk to you," Haru said wistfully as the spoon bowed again, the ghostly lord agreeing with her. "Wait, if you can write down lists, can you write down sentences and just _tell _me what you want to say?"

The spoon regretfully bobbed a no at her, making the girl pout a little.

"No offense, but that's incredibly **lame**."

The spoon bobbed a slightly sad but enthusiastic yes in a fervent agreement.

The slim brunette had a small realization about then. The Baron von Gikkingen had been in this house for over half a century, with no one but irritating tenants and feuding animals for company. He must have been insane with loneliness.

Maybe _that's _why he was so nice to her. Because she offered to respect him, first. Thank heaven; courtesy still counted for something!

The kitchen door swung open, and Muta walked in. Waddled would have been more accurate, concerning the feline's ample stomach. The fat white cat stopped short in his tracks, and stared open-jawed at Haru's strange embrace with what appeared to be nothing more than air.

Baron immediately let go of her, and her arms fell limp into her lap.

Feeling more content than she had in months, Haru stood up from her seat, and scratched her cat's ears before pulling out a large pot for fish stew. "I'm sorry for being cross with you earlier, Muta. Baron explained that you were hiding the truth from me for a good reason."

The cat fell on his side with clear shock. "_Meow_?" he asked incredulously, like he thought he had misunderstood her.

"He didn't say what the reason was," Haru continued with a giggle, slicing up the long slabs of halibut fish as she waited for water from the large silver sink's faucet to fill the pot. "He just said it was a good one." At least, she was pretty sure that's what he meant.


	8. A Curious Crow

Author note; Ceysna, if you're reading this, I couldn't email you back thanks to some glitch in the website. Please feel free to paste 'To Every Girl' on your own profile (I pasted it from someone else's profile too, so I can sympathize).

**Chapter Eight: A Curious Crow**

Stirring the cut vegetables in the soup an hour later while crusty rolls baked in the oven, the brunette realized that the crow was outside her window again, watching her every move.

She sighed tiredly. "I _can't _be interesting enough for all this attention. Am I, Muta?" she asked over her shoulder, only to groan in disappointment.

The fat feline looked like he hadn't moved since she had told him she had forgiven him, but he had calmed down a little, and was staring at her like she was still a stranger. Even more so than when they had first met.

"Why do I get the feeling like everyone around here is in on a big conspiracy except me?" Haru muttered to herself as she added more dried basil to the bubbling soup in front of her.

She gave Muta a very pointed look as she ladled a bowlful of steaming soup and placed it on the table for him, since he customarily ate in one of the chairs like a human. "If you and that crow are planning an evil prank to pull on me, I'd forget it if I were you. I'd hate to have to serve you peanut butter sandwiches for a solid month without any piano-playing on my part."

Muta shuddered violently at the carefully-worded threat, and sniffed the soup with anticipation, pointedly keeping his eyes on the bowl. With one white paw, he batted the steam away fiercely like it was an enemy, but perhaps he was just trying to cool off his dinner.

Haru smiled a little as she got out another bowl, and ladled some more soup into it. Because the last tenant had bought super-large pots and pans in anticipation for feeding a crowd, the slim brunette usually could make enough food for a week by cooking once, although she usually made two or three dishes a week, for the sake of variety.

Suddenly, she looked over at the crow perched on the windowsill. _'Maybe I'm not the one he's staring at. Maybe he's just hungry.' _Willing to try anything, she kept a calm smile on her face as she reached over to open the window.

The crow jerked around like he was broken out of a trance and immediately took to the air.

Haru set the bowl on the painted windowsill, and cupped her mouth with one hand to make sure that the dark bird would hear her. "The soup's for you. It's hot, so be careful."

The slim brunette left the window open, and ladled herself a bowl of the fish and vegetable soup. Muta was staring at her again as she sat down across from him, and waited for her dinner to cool down.

"Peanut butter," she said in a flat voice, making the cat hurriedly lower his head to the bowl, and start lapping up the soup enthusiastically.

As she waited for the soup to cool off, Haru watched the crow land on the windowsill again, and stare at her in amazement before turning his head towards her offering.

With one wing, he waved the air over the bowl, brushing the hot steam away with his dark feathers. After a few moments of this, he lowered his beak into the savory broth, and began to calmly drink it, occasionally throwing his head back so that he could swallow a bit of fish or vegetable whole.

The oven's timer went off, making the slim brunette get out of her chair so that she could rescue the steaming rolls from getting burned.

Muta's mouth watered shamelessly as Haru cut one open, and buttered it. But instead of giving it to the cat, she set the roll gently next to the crow, who only flinched slightly as her hand nearly touched one of his talons.

"Hope you're enjoying the soup," she said politely while buttering a second one for the pouting white cat. "Oh, stop that, Muta," she chided while giving him the roll. "I know you like him, too, or there would be actual bloodshed when you fight with him."

The large feline choked on his mouthful of soup, and stared at her again with huge shocked eyes as she started buttering a roll for herself.

"Peanut butter." Her back was turned, and she could _still _feel his gaze sharply go back to his food. She giggled, and raised the roll to her mouth to take a bite, but then became a little distracted as the crow flew inside the house and landed firmly on her soft shoulder.

"Agh!" she yelped, dropping the roll before she could eat it. She raised one hand to shoo the large bird off of her, but then stopped.

The dark crow was rubbing his body and head against her cheek in an affectionate manner, cawing softly.

Her hand froze in the air, and slowly moved to his neck and shoulders. Very gently, she stroked the slightly waxy feathers that covered his body. "You're kidding," she murmured. "That's all you wanted?"

"Caw," the crow replied, almost smirking at the flabbergasted cat still sitting at the table.

"Well, I'm not sure if Baron really approves of birds in the house, but I don't think it will matter all that much if you behave yourself," Haru said hesitantly, just before taking a good look into the crow's small black eyes.

They weren't at all like the eyes of Hiromi's pet canary, back when they were still friends. Little Tweety's eyes had been blank and completely clear of any thought, but this bird's eyes had intelligence, and something else she couldn't quite put a name to. He looked straight at her, a slightly mischievous twinkle in them as he quietly studied her up close.

"Toto," she whispered.

The crow immediately broke out of his trance, and cawed innocently while glaring at the white cat that had just barely fallen off of his chair, one eye twitching in shock.

"I'm sorry," Haru apologized, smoothing out his ruffled feathers. "You just look like your name's Toto, that's all. It's probably a little disrespectful, all things considered, but would you mind if I called you that?"

The crow looked at her hard for a moment, and then shook his head while cawing softly. He rubbed his head one more time against hers, and then hopped off of her shoulder to fly out the window again so he could eat his roll.

"This has been one long, weird day," she sighed to herself as she finally sat down to her soup, and started eating as her cat continued to stare at her from his fallen position on the kitchen floor.

"Peanut butter."

He looked away quickly, but there was still confusion in Muta's small black eyes as he hopped back onto his feet and the chair so he could finish his dinner.

'_Just what __**is **__this girl, anyway? How could she have known Bird Brain's name? Baron couldn't have told her… could he?'_

ooOoo

"RING, RING, RING!"

Haru suddenly snapped awake as her hand automatically slammed to the right of her, only to come down on more of the bed.

Oh, right. She didn't have an alarm clock anymore. The slim brunette groaned pityingly as she crawled across the bed in order to reach the cell phone lying on the bedside table.

"Hello?" she asked sleepily, holding the slim silver phone to her ear while putting the other hand over her eyes tiredly.

"Hello, Miss Haru? I hope I didn't wake you up."

She suddenly snapped straight in bed, recognizing the voice on the line. "I'll get over it, Angelica. How are you?"

"I'm doing just fine. So… you're still at the von Gikkingen estate?"

"That's right. I'm loving this place more every day," Haru said dreamily as she threw her blankets around, trying to find her night cap that had fallen off sometime during the night, since she despised the thought of anyone seeing what she looked like without anything to cover her scalp scars. Or _any _of her scars, for that matter.

It wasn't like they were anyone's business.

"So you're not having any problems with the Baron or anything?" the realtor inquired nervously.

"Nothing that can't be worked out," the brunette said casually, stepping out of bed so that she could step in front of the vanity that had a bed sheet thrown across the mirror, and slip the nightcap back into one of the drawers with one hand. "I still want to live here, and…"

How was she going to put this?

"…the Baron's given me plenty of reasons to believe that he doesn't mind my presence here." She was fairly sure that was an understatement.

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"Reasonably," Haru said while pulling her day wig out of its drawer, so she could put it on as soon as she was done with her shower. "I'm a little surprised that you called back so soon, though."

"What on earth are you talking about, Miss Haru? Today's the last day of the trial period."

The brunette dropped her wig in shock. "Are you sure? It feels like I've only been here a week."

Angie giggled. "Oh no. I've been keeping an eye on the calendar. So, should I come by with the paperwork, or will I just end up regretting it again?"

"Please, bring it," Haru implored. "I'll tell Baron that you're coming. He appreciates it when I tell him things in advance."

"… right. Does two o'clock sound good for me to drop by?"

"Sounds perfect. See you then." Haru clicked her phone shut, and leaned down to retrieve her wig. But as she reached down, her nightgown's sleeve trailed up her arm.

She stayed half-bent over for a second, her dark troubled eyes on the terrible wrinkled scars that peaked at her from under the soft cotton fabric, since she didn't sleep with her gloves on.

She sighed sadly, and straightened so she could set her meager protection on the vanity.

'_One of these days, I really will forget why I have these stupid marks. Yeah. Keep telling yourself that.'_

ooOoo

Angie was nervous when she pulled up to the von Gikkingen estate a second time; the wrought iron gate already opened wide for her. As she pulled around the front of the manor, her nervous blue eyes trailed to the huge file innocently sitting on the passenger seat beside her.

'_Please let this be the last time I have to touch those papers for several more years.' _Sighing nervously, she grabbed the papers and stepped out of her car. Taking a deep breath for courage while holding the huge file close, she approached the tall thick door, and rang the brass knocker. A second later, the door opened, making the realtor stare incredulously.

Haru's skin had been as pale as paper when Angie had last seen her, but now the brunette was softly blushed with a subtle and healthy pink, and her eyes seemed so much more peaceful now, and her mouth was softly curved into a smile of contentment. She was still skinny, but at least she was no longer skeletal.

"Please come in, Angelica. We've been expecting you."

"Please don't talk like that, Miss Haru," the redhead begged as she stepped into the manor. "It's unnerving."

"Sorry," the slimmer girl apologized with a soft giggle. "Well, please come this way."

As Angie followed her slim host down the hallway, she couldn't help but stare at the walls and portraits that lined the passageway. Without all the dust and debris… it didn't even feel like a haunted manor, anymore.

It felt like a _home_. But Angelica Smith had been living in the village too long to brush off decades' worth of fear so easily.

"The place looks wonderful," she finally said aloud, feeling a little silly for stating something so obvious.

"Thank you," Haru said politely, opening the door to the sitting room. "I still have three bedrooms to clean, but the rest of the manor's pretty much done. Would you care for a cup of tea?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't have the time. I have another client waiting after I'm done here," the redhead said regretfully as she opened up her thick folder, and began to sort through the paperwork. "I did most of the papers earlier, so all that's left is for you to sign your name here, here, and here." She clicked the pen once, and held it out to the brunette.

Haru looked at the pen Angie offered her, and then looked up at the ceiling with a small smile. "This is it, Baron. The last chance to get rid of me free and clear. Do you want to take it?"

The realtor gasped as the pen was gently removed from her hand by something unseen, only to float right in front of the slim brunette.

She smiled, and took the pen. "I guess Baron's voiced _his _opinion." With a feeling of finality, she set the pen to paper, and signed her name onto the ownership papers, then onto the impressive check that covered the cost for the estate and the lands attached to it.

"It's official now," Haru said contentedly. "I'm _home_."

"I don't get it," Angie said while shaking her head, separating the papers that she would keep from the new owner's. "Why would the Baron scare away all those tenants, but then turn around and encourage you to stay?"

The slim brunette shrugged. "My offer to treat him with courtesy probably helped."

"Wait! That's all it took?!" the redhead asked incredulously, thinking about the many years of horror that the mere mention of the estate invoked.

"Apparently so. Isn't it sad, that it took this long for someone alive to figure it out?" Haru asked with a sad giggle.

One of the papers rose up to stand on the small table the girls were leaning over, and bowed enthusiastically in agreement.


	9. Hidden Sorrow

**Chapter Nine: Hidden Sorrow**

Haru's eyes narrowed in concentration as her slim pocketknife carefully shaved more spare wood off of the white ash chunk in her hand. The base of the item she was creating was about the same size and shape as her slender fist, with a flatter part the same thickness of her flattened hand off one end, and with a slightly bigger chunk at the opposite end of the base.

Right now, she was working on carving the flatter part out until it resembled an elegant 'n' shape, revealing the forming toy to be a swan in progress.

Muta snorted in disgust from his seat on the couch as Haru leaned over in the delicately carved wooden chair that was sitting close to the marble fireplace, and shaved bits of wood decorating her lap and the floor around her. The scene was very familiar to him, and to the dark crow sitting on the back of the brunette's chair.

Toto leaned as forward as he dared, his black eyes filled with an ancient longing as the slim woman carefully shaped the swan's elegant neck and body, completely absorbed in her task.

'_The girl's got __**talent**__. Blast it; if our situations were just a little different…'_

Suddenly, both the knife and work in progress were firmly removed from the brunette's hands and set on the fireplace's mantle by something unseen.

"Hey!" Haru protested, but then felt Baron's cool fingers on her face as he turned her head to look at the Drosselmeyer clock in the corner she had fixed when she first moved in.

It was only eleven, but Haru knew better than to try arguing with her ghostly companion over a curfew, since she was certain to lose the argument _again_. The invisible lord wasn't above levitating and carrying her to her bedroom door if she protested too much about wanting to carve, just a little longer.

She stood up from the chair and stretched her arms while yawning. "I guess you're right, Baron." The slim girl brushed off the wood shavings that were clinging to her clothes before walking over to a large window and opening it wide for Toto, who landed on her shoulder for a second to butt heads with her affectionately before flying through.

"Good night," she called to him as she closed the window again, and retrieved the broom and dustpan she had started keeping in the sitting room so that she could clean the wood shavings off the floor and into a bucket she kept for starting fires in the marble masterpiece.

Done with her cleanup, Haru set the broom and dustpan aside, and scratched her fat cat's ears affectionately before walking out of the room. "Good night, Muta. Sleep well."

He purred at her, and curled up a little tighter so he could drift into slumber. _'I wonder how much longer it will be before she figures out that she won't have to keep buying new gloves if she'd just take them off while playing with a knife.'_

ooOoo

_The pain was terrible. It didn't matter if she was awake or lost in slumber. She felt like a hollow shell, now that so much blood had been drained out of her. No matter what position she lay in, her many cuts protested strenuously to her efforts, or perhaps just the fact that she was still clinging to life._

_Why wasn't she dead? Surely death felt better than this __**agony**__. She groaned, wishing only for the pain to end._

"_Doctor," an unfamiliar voice said through the haze. "She's awake."_

"_Ah, excellent. You gave us quite a scare, Mrs. Mishuzi; several of the other doctors had just given up on you. Do you remember what happened?"_

_Haru started sobbing, wishing that she had just experienced a terrible nightmare, and was still lost in it._

"_Can you speak, Mrs. Mishuzi? There are some policemen out in the waiting room that wish to speak to you about who tried to kill you."_

"_My baby," Haru sobbed, one hand trailing down to her abdomen, which was noticeably flatter than it had been the day before as her heart froze in fear. "Where's my daughter?!"_

_A terrible silence met her words._

"_I-I'm sorry, Mrs. Mishuzi. The child was dead inside of you before the ambulance arrived. There was nothing I could do, but remove it to save you."_

"NO!" Haru screamed, falling out of her bed and onto the cold wooden floor. Her arm hurt terribly, but the slim woman couldn't even feel it as her heart howled in anguish and sorrow.

It was dark outside, still many hours away from sunrise. There was no _way _she would be able to go back to sleep after that nightmare, which was also a despised memory from eight months before. She had been so certain that this place would banish the nightmares forever, but that was obviously too much to hope for.

She didn't bother to move from her fallen position on the cold ground as tears fell down her face. She covered her face with her scarred hands, and wept in horror and self-loathing.

'_If only it were __**all**__ just a bad dream…' _She could hear Muta scratching at her door insistently as he meowed for her to open the door, but she still didn't move. Her depression had returned with a vengeance, rendering her broken and scarred body useless.

Suddenly, her semi-awareness detected a slightly familiar presence in her room. Cool unseen arms wrapped around her body, and lifted her off the ground to set her gently on the down-filled bed. The indent of another body bent into the space next to her, the arms still wrapped firmly around her.

Haru leaned into the pressure from Baron's insubstantial chest, her hands still to her face as the tears kept falling.

Her door creaked open on its own, sending Muta running in so that he could hop onto her bed with difficulty. He took a few steps closer over the soft comforter, but then stopped cold in horror.

So distraught by her terrible nightmare, Haru didn't realize that by holding her hands to her face to cry into them, the sleeves of her nightgown had fallen to her elbows, exposing the terrible scars that crisscrossed her arms, continuing far past the sleeves. Her nightcap was lying on the ground where she had fallen, so her scalp was also exposed without her knowledge.

With tears in his eyes, Muta waddled closer to the poor girl, and patted her arm while meowing sadly.

Haru choked back another sob to look down at her cat. Realizing with a shock that both he and Baron could see her ugly body, she quickly pulled her sleeves down over her arms.

But it was already too late. Even Toto had flown into the room, thanks to a recently opened window, his eyes filled with horror as he looked at her scarred head. She looked away from their inquiring gazes shamefully, but then Baron's cool touch gently but firmly turned her head back to face them.

"Peanut-" she tried to say, but Muta firmly shook his head and patted her arm again while meowing insistently.

"I'm not going to get out of explaining, am I?" she asked with a sad resignation, tears still falling from her face as the invisible Baron grabbed the box of tissues she kept on her bedside table to offer it to her.

Both Toto and Muta nodded firmly as Baron's touch nodded her head. She bit her lip, and looked down in shame. Just where was she supposed to begin?

"When… I was a child, I used to think that fathers were just make-believe like dragons and elves, because I never saw mine. I was raised by my grandma, because my mother died giving birth to me, and my father didn't wish to be distracted from work. He's the head of a major toy company back in Japan, and didn't have time for a personal life. He'd just mail a generous check every year to my grandma so that she could afford to keep me. He never even sent a card on my birthday or anything. After I figured out that fathers were real, I started really pushing myself in school to excel, because I thought that if I could prove that I was exceptional, then he'd want to meet me and be a part of my life. I'd ask Santa every Christmas for my father to come, but he never did. Grandma kept trying to tell me that he didn't want to be there, but I didn't want to believe her."

Haru numbly wiped her face with a tissue as tears continued to fall. "The only reason I ended up meeting him was because my grandmother died, and I was two years into college, despite the fact that I was only seventeen at the time. He started having me enroll in business classes so that I could assist him in the company, and I was actually happy to do it." She clenched her fists angrily. "I kept thinking that if I could make the company enough money, he'd finally be proud of me. But the closest he ever came to saying something like that was when one of his rivals said something flattering about me, and he'd respond with 'She shows potential'."

She sighed regretfully. "There was one guy that was rising fast in the company, that my father had high expectations for, and told me firmly to get 'friendly' with. His name was Mishuzi Machida. He was handsome, tall, dark, smooth, and good mannered. We dated for a couple months, married, and I got pregnant with a little girl a few months later."

Baron's arms twitched violently with shock as Muta and Toto nearly fell over from the same emotion.

"I _know _I look like a teenager," Haru said with exaggerated patience. "But I promise you that I was twenty-five when I married Machida. Well, I was over the moon about becoming a mother. I was busy through the whole pregnancy, between work and getting the nursery ready for the baby. I was so happy that I hardly paid attention to the fact that Machida was going out drinking with friends after work more and more often. I just figured that he was enjoying his numbered days of childless freedom to the hilt, so I'd clean him off and get him to bed whenever he'd get home."

Her hands started shaking uncontrollably, remembering the next part. "On our anniversary, two weeks before the baby was due, I asked him to wait two hours before coming home from work so that I could fix up a special surprise for him. We had a few servants at the time, so after one of them came back with the groceries, I gave all of them the night off so that I could fix the candlelit dinner myself. I didn't cook a lot during the years I worked for my father because I didn't have the time, but I still enjoyed cooking for special occasions. When everything was ready, I sat down and waited for him to come home. I waited for hours, and he didn't show up. I tried calling his cell phone, but he wouldn't answer.

"Close to nine, he finally walked through the door, and the dinner I had made for him was stone cold. I asked him where he had been… and he punched me in the face, and made me fall down. He kicked me a lot, slurring that it was none of my business where he had been, and that I talked too much. I could smell the alcohol on his breath as he calmly told me that he didn't give a care about me, or the baby. I was just a rung on the promotional ladder to him, since my father declared him as his successor after he married me, and I was wealthy to boot from a combination of inheritance, hard work, and well-planned investments. Then," she gagged, "… he got out my rotary cutter for sewing, tore off my clothes, and started running the blade hard over my back, my limbs, and my head while I begged for him to stop," she sobbed, feeling her head with one hand.

"I had managed to roll onto my stomach, which is probably why my face and front aren't mangled. The timetable the police managed to come up with said that it took somewhere between one hour to two, for him to mutilate me. When he was satisfied that I had lost enough blood to die, he dropped the rotary cutter, put his coat back on, and went out again to celebrate being a bachelor again. I passed out after that, but apparently one of the servants had forgotten a book I had let him borrow for his daughter's school project, and came back for it. He found me lying in a pool of my own blood, and called an ambulance before trying his best to stop the bleeding. But what had hurt the worst was waking up in the hospital the next day, and finding out that my daughter was dead before she had a chance to live."

Haru wept anew. "She… she shouldn't have died! It was _my_ fault! I was the one that missed the signs and failed to act! _I _should be dead, not her!"

Baron's cool fingers covered her trembling lips to silence her, and he increased his hold as Muta wiggled under one of her arms and attempting to purr in a comforting manner. But what came out alternated between a heartbroken mew and a furious growl. Toto flew to the head board of her bed, and inched close enough to fiercely brush his face against her mutilated scalp while cawing angrily.

"My old man was in on it," Haru said miserably. "He had been the one that Machida was out drinking with, and was listening to Machida say what a pain I was. So my so-called 'father' told him to take care of the problem, but he apparently meant to get rid of me after the baby was born so that his line could continue and control the company for a few more generations. Three of the barmaids that worked there had overheard the exchange, and later testified against them in court. He had heard that Machida had tried to kill me, but he didn't even try to call me at the hospital, because he had to catch a plane for a meeting in Australia.

"All those _years_ I had wasted yearning and working myself to death for his affection, and I was nothing more than a temporary convenience for him. The only thing that had ever really mattered to him was the stupid company."

Her grip on Muta suddenly turned fierce as a wolfish smile of evil satisfaction crossed her face.

"So that was what I took from him."


	10. Kindness at Last

**Chapter Ten: Kindness at Last**

"If anyone can understand the next part, it's you three. After the doctors had given me some painkillers and left me alone to rest, I decided I was going to go ahead and die. There wasn't anything left that this world could offer me, so I didn't see why I had to stay, especially when the only person to have ever truly loved me was dead. Almost immediately, I could hear Grandma again, but for once, she wasn't all that pleased with me. She asked if I was honestly going to let my daughter's murderer win without a fight, and that I still had a job to do. Isn't that strange? Before I got attacked by Machida, I'd have sworn that I had more friends than I could hope to count, but when I really needed someone to hold onto, it was the one person I'd have excused. Not even death could keep my grandma from me when I truly needed her. I guess that's why I didn't mind the idea of sharing a home with you, Baron. Deceased people don't have reasons to hide their intentions," she said calmly, now that the tears had finally passed.

Baron's arms squeezed her comfortingly, and an unseen hand brushed her lengthening bangs away from her eyes. She made a mental note to trim her hair in the morning before continuing her story. Her brown strands had been growing faster than usual for the past few weeks.

"That company had stolen my father, my husband, several years of my life, and my child. While lying on that hospital bed after Grandma's voice faded away, I decided it was time it started giving back."

Muta purred happily in anticipation as Toto leaned in eagerly.

"I told the police officers exactly what Machida told me, and his fingerprints were all over the blood-covered rotary cutter he had carelessly left at the scene of the crime. His pathetic excuse for an alibi had more holes than Swiss cheese, so he was arrested immediately. During happier days, he loved covering me with expensive jewelry, so I sold every piece he had ever bought me, and used it to divorce him, making sure that he got nothing from me. The judge wanted to give me everything he owned, but I didn't want it. I wanted nothing to remind me of him. During that time, I made it known that even if a member of his family or my 'father's' company managed to kill me, a sizable number of orphanages and charities would be the ones to benefit from my death."

"While I was working on the divorce, I quit the company I had slaved away for and sold off all of my shares in it. I actually didn't have to do much more than that, because the newspapers covering my case made a big issue over the fact that my 'father' hadn't paid a single visit to the hospital when I was recovering, he wasn't there at all when I was getting divorced, and he was also heavily linked with my murderous ex-husband. So then stores stopped accepting inventory from the company, because no one wanted to buy from such a cold-blooded monster. Sales went down.

"I found out later that he had given one order to his employees before leaving for Australia; that if any of them were to try to contact or comfort me in any fashion, they'd lose their job and never be able to work a decent job in Japan again. I'm guessing the order was to help me sink into despair and lose the will to live. He hadn't counted on Grandma. No live person from work ever came to comfort me, but there was at least one person that felt guilty about abandoning me in my time of need, because the job threat became leaked to the press, as well as a few under-the-table negotiations with the Yakuza that he had managed to hide from me. The Yakuza are the Japanese mob," she added, noting the blank expressions on the listeners' faces.

"Well, the police had a field day with those confirmations. When I finally left Japan for good, the company was well on its way to being shut down permanently, and the old man was behind bars for the extra money he hadn't been paying taxes on. Even if he eventually heals from this scandal, he'll always remember that I had nearly brought his _precious_ company to destruction, since he's never been the type to take responsibility for his mistakes. I had known before I left the hospital that I wouldn't be able to stay in Japan after I was done exacting justice for my slain daughter, so I used a combination of bribes, disguises, and false names to slowly work my way to England until I came to this place."

She placed one hand carefully over Baron's, since it was on her arm. "I may not have been born here, but _this _is my home, and I'm not going to run away again if anyone with a grudge left in Japan has enough resources to find out where I am. If anyone from my past tries to come here and finish what Machida started-"

Muta started growling and hissing savagely as Toto cawed angrily, snapping his beak viciously while Baron made the windows and bed frame start to shake with pure unadulterated rage.

"You said it," Haru said with a tiny smile, hugging the large white cat close to her like he was a stuffed animal. "Do you understand now, why I was so worried about strangers prowling around this place?"

"Meow," Muta said angrily, licking her cheek with his rough tongue. Toto cawed angrily, and the bed and windows stopped shaking as Baron's arms held her tighter still.

Wistfully, Haru wished that she could have had friends such as these three when her life had taken such a terrible turn for the worse. Even Hiromi had been gone on a year-long luxury cruise with her husband, and hadn't tried to contact the brunette throughout the entire scandal, despite the fact that her humiliation and pain had been made known internationally, at least in the business world.

Several of her father's competitors had offered her a job after she had quit working for the family company, since she was very good at her job in marketing and toy promotion, but Haru wished nothing more than to never return to that cold world of money and status again.

Suddenly, the chink of china came to her ears, and the slim girl looked up to notice that Baron was carefully floating a steaming cup of tea into her room.

She smiled wanly and took the offering without batting an eyelash. "Thanks, Baron. A cup of tea sounds wonderful right now." She sipped at it delicately, a little surprised at the flavor. Baron's blend never tasted the same twice, but this cup had a very soothing effect that none of the other batches had.

Slowly, as she drained the cup, her body began to sway from one side to the other. Toto stepped to the side of the head board as Muta hopped off the bed so that the ghostly lord could pick up the girl again, align the sheets underneath, and tuck the girl back into the quilt as she quickly faded into sweet dreamless slumber.

Muta walked back through the bedroom door that closed behind him as Toto flew back through the open window that gently slammed shut after him, but the invisible Baron stayed right where he was.

His transparent arms stayed firmly wrapped around the sleeping girl as his heart broke for her. _"Oh, Haru… no wonder you chose to come here." _He held her a little tighter as his heart howled a familiar wish.

"_If only I were alive!" _The things he could show her, if it were only possible. The things he could show that monstrous Machida, if he was ever foolish enough to come here…

ooOoo

When Haru woke up late the next morning, she felt wonderful. Not only had she received the best sleep in months, but the terrible tightness in her chest had finally vanished completely. She didn't even bother putting on the gloves, now that her friends were in on her little secret. She'd only use them for trips into town now.

The wig stayed on her head, though. She wasn't quite _that _comfortable with her appearance yet.

When she entered the kitchen, she found various herb jars floating around in the air, their contents being measured one by one into a steaming pot that was half-filled with a thick dark green mixture which was almost exactly the color of moss.

"That's not breakfast, is it?" she asked worriedly.

A cool, unseen hand touched her face, and made it shake softly in the negative.

"I'll go ahead and make something different for me and the other two then," she said gratefully, since the strange mixture stunk a little too strongly for her to be able to eat it.

The jars went out of the way to avoid her as she calmly walked through them to start mixing up pancakes, since she wasn't about to offend Toto by serving him eggs. Haru could _almost_ feel Baron's presence right next to her, as he stirred his strange goop and she her mulberry syrup. She'd always had a thing for mulberries.

Muta entered the kitchen through the open door and started rubbing against her leg while purring affectionately.

"Good morning to you, too," she said with a grin, reaching down to scratch his ears with her bare fingers. She had never been able to tell before, thanks to the long dark gloves she had always worn, but his fur was soft and slightly wispy.

The fat feline had noticed that she wasn't wearing her gloves, because he turned his head painfully in order to lick her wrist affectionately, something he had never done before.

"I love you too, Muta," she laughed, standing up so that she could flip the pancakes.

"Ow!"

Haru suddenly looked down again to notice that Muta was suddenly a foot away from her, and rubbing one paw on his side like someone had kicked him. Muta looked disgruntled, but then locked eyes with her. His dark eyes suddenly looked nervous, like he had forgotten about something as she stared at him incredulously.

"Meow!" he added the same tone of voice before licking one of his arms frantically.

Haru shook her head at herself, and continued flipping pancakes. "Of course that's what I heard. I must still be half-asleep."

While the slim brunette's back was turned, her cat glared angrily at the air and shook his paw mutely in fury.

But then Toto started tapping on the glass, so Muta had to get back on all his paws before Haru could turn around and let him in.

"Good morning, Toto," she giggled as the large crow landed on her shoulder and started nuzzling her cheek. "Breakfast is ready."

As she usually did, she served the cat and crow before herself, pulling one of the chairs around so that Toto could eat from the chair's back, since he had the wrong feet for the seat, and he wouldn't have been able to reach the pancakes she had cut up for him if he had sat in the chair anyway.

She was just finishing the last of her pancakes when Baron's cool hand grabbed hers gently, and started to pull her from her seat.

"What is it, Baron?" she asked curiously, following his guidance to right in front of the large stove, where his special goop had cooled down. He raised one of her arms, and swiftly rolled back the dark sleeve of her turtleneck sweater.

"Hey!" she protested, since she still didn't want to flaunt her disfigured body, but as much as she tried to wiggle out of Baron's firm grasp, it didn't make a difference. He held her arm firmly in place as a big glob of the cooled goop landed squarely on the scars that raced across her pale skin.

Muta and Toto struggled not to laugh, knowing precisely what the specter was doing.

Haru gaped with a horrified fascination as the green stuff was spread all over her arm, nearly as slick as oil. When her mutilated arm was coated with Baron's concoction, a rather large roll of white bandages was taken from behind her large mixer, and started winding itself around her arm at a fast pace. Within ten seconds, the small metal clips were firmly set on the end of the bandage to keep it from unwinding, and Baron let go of her arm.

Haru stared at her bandage-encased arm with shock. "Was… that for my scars?"

The invisible lord tilted her head in confirmation, and then set about pouring the green stuff into a separate container with a lid, possibly for later use.

"And you only did this arm because it's a test run?" Haru guessed.

Baron nodded her head again, so she decided not to worry about it.

"All right. I _was _going to scrub the ballroom floor again today, but I guess that can wait. If you gentlemen will excuse me, I think I'll go work on that toy some more."

Thanks to the bandage, she could hardly even rinse the breakfast dishes, so Baron just placed them in the fairly new dishwasher Mr. Jones had put in a few years before.

The day passed rather peacefully as Haru alternately carved her swan and played the piano with difficulty, since Muta refused to stop pulling on her pant leg until she worked her way through a few Renaldo Moon songs and committed them flawlessly to memory per day, whether she was wrapped in bandages or not. He didn't even want to wait until she had finished repairing all of the manor's instruments to drag her to the piano, day after day.

A cup of Baron's special tea was waiting for her when it was time to sleep, so Haru passed another night without horrible dreams.

When the bandage was taken off the next morning, the scars on her arm were noticeably fainter than they had been before.


	11. You're not Alone

**Chapter Eleven: You're not Alone**

Haru smiled happily as she un-wrapped her head in the sitting room a month after Baron started giving her the healing ointment, something that had become a morning ritual so that he could change out the old goop with fresh stuff. As the sturdy white cloth fell from her head, lengthening brown hair was the only thing revealed. Not only had her ghostly companion's little mixture made her scars gradually vanish, but he had whipped up another lotion that encouraged her hair to grow back like a blade had never touched her skin.

It was the first time in months that she could stand to look at herself in a mirror while wearing a short-sleeved blouse; not a single mark to be seen. Her back had been a little tricky to treat, since she really was too shy to ask Baron to do it, but found that a washcloth attached to a back-scrubber meant for showers could completely treat her back, which was now smooth and perfect.

"You are the _best_, Baron," she said almost worshipfully, wiping away her tears of joy with one hand. "I never thought I could look normal again. I owe you. I have no idea how I can repay you, but I'll think of something."

Baron didn't answer her, but she strongly suspected that he was doing the ghost equivalent of blushing. She bit her lip while looking at the mirror, and ran back to her bathroom for her hair scissors. As good as her head now looked, her hair needed a trim so that she wouldn't look shaggy.

She combed through her uneven hair once, and then carefully held a lock of her hair between two fingers while raising her scissors to it.

Without warning, the sharp implement was gently removed from her hand, and hung unassisted in the air.

"I can do it, Baron," she protested, though standing perfectly still as the small comb rose from her bathroom counter, and began to work with the scissors as they danced around the brunette's head, continually combing and snipping with the highest level of care. All of the stray hair, instead of falling on her shirt or on the ground, hovered in the air around her neck before floating to the wastebasket neatly.

Haru smiled softly to herself, suddenly realizing that whenever Baron decided to make his opinion known to her, she rarely won the argument, if ever. At least they had never had a serious fight. "I hope you appreciate how much I trust you to cut my hair, Baron. It's very unnerving to watch those scissors seemingly hang in the air and come at me."

The scissors and comb came together like her ghostly lord had passed both items to one hand, as the other unseen arm wrapped around her torso to squeeze her affectionately, one of his cool cheeks rubbing against hers.

She raised one hand to rest just over where his insubstantial hand was, and felt a soft twinge of regret. _'Why couldn't I have met someone like you, Baron? If any live man treated me half as well as you do, I'd consider myself lucky._

'_I'll be spoiled for anyone else, if he keeps treating me like this. Oh well. Better him than Machida.'_

Baron released her after a minute, and returned to his task. Haru noticed that he didn't cut her hair like a boy's, although it was short enough, but only seemed to be straightening the lengths so that they could continue to grow evenly. When he finally set the comb and scissors aside, Haru realized that it would still be at least a few more months before her hair regained its former shoulder length, but at least what hair she had now was styled in a rather nice haircut that could easily be adjusted. But this one didn't look too bad on her. Maybe she'd keep this hairstyle.

"Just how many talents do you _have_, Baron?" she giggled, turning away from the mirror to bow respectfully to the unseen lord. "I think I lost count of them a few months ago."

Once again, she had the certain feeling that if Baron still had a body, he would be blushing furiously.

ooOoo

Haru carefully set her laptop in the large ballroom on a chair, and plugged the mechanical contraption into the wall as she raced back to the kitchen for some large clean rags and two frothing buckets filled with soapy water.

She set one of the buckets close to the laptop, set her music player on shuffle, then play, and walked to the other end of the cavern like ballroom.

She set the second bucket down near the middle of the wall, and took the rag cloths off from around her neck to soak one of them in the soapy water, and wring it out. The ballroom floor wasn't all that dirty, so she decided that the mop wasn't really necessary.

Starting from one corner of the room, she ran with bare feet, keeping the rag to the ground in a crouched over position to leave behind her a clean ribbon of tiled floor. In time to the music, Haru swiftly turned from colliding with the wall, and ran in the opposite direction in order to widen the clean ribbon of floor. Periodically washing the rags, she managed to clean the entire ballroom floor in under twenty-five minutes, an impressive record, considering the sheer size of the place. But then again, Haru never stepped in here except for the periodic cleaning.

She smiled in satisfaction as she tiredly slid her soft indoor slippers back on, the floor in front of her already coming close to completely dry, which was why she had chosen not to use the mop. She sighed and gazed upward at the elegant buttresses bracing the tall ceiling overhead. There were still times when she honestly expected to see paintings over it like the Sistine Chapel. She looked out over the coldly empty ballroom, imagining the grand parties that had once been held here, several decades before. What a time that must have been to live in!

Suddenly, her laptop cut off in the middle of a soft rock song, and changed to Savage Garden's 'Crash and Burn'.

How appropriate. This song had given her a lot of strength over the months her divorce had consumed, and it had been a favorite of hers long before then. Just the thought that there might be someone, somewhere, that really cared about her, even if it was only her deceased grandmother, gave her enough strength to keep moving forward and keep doing what she knew was right, despite the fact that those who had been closest to her had given up on her before she was even gone.

"Nice pick, Baron," Haru congratulated him, stretching her arms like a cat.

Without warning, her ghostly friend's cool hand covered hers, and began to pull her out of the cushioned chair lining one of the walls. A little curious, the slim brunette allowed him to guide her to the middle of the ballroom. He touched one of her cheeks tenderly with his cool hand, and then guided her left hand to an almost solid place about chin level to her, his shoulder, and gripped her other hand gently while his right hand came to rest on her waist.

"Uh, Baron?" Haru stammered while turning red and trying to politely step out of his arms. "I can't dance. At all. I mean, I appreciate the thought and everything, but I make an elephant look graceful-"

The unseen lord released her hand long enough to press his cool fingertip against her lips to keep her from speaking, and gripped her hand again. Slowly, as the lyrics in the laptop began to sing about feeling left alone in the world, Baron began to lead her through a standard waltz.

"At least I can't step on your feet," Haru mumbled to herself as she struggled to keep up with the baron's unseen footwork. But, it was very unnerving to dance with someone that the girl couldn't see.

The slim brunette tried closing her eyes, so that she couldn't see anything else, either. That strategy worked surprisingly well, since all she had to do was follow Baron's subtle instructions as the chorus kicked in, oddly triumphant considering the melancholy verses.

_Let me be the one you call_

_If you jump, I'll break your fall_

On 'fall', Baron suddenly threw her into a deep dip, and held her steady for a second before bringing her back up and twirling her around like a ballerina as she struggled not to scream at his easy manipulation of her body.

_Lift you up and fly away with you _

_Into the night._

_If you need to fall apart, _

_I can mend a broken heart_

Baron stopped twirling her around, and returned to a rotating box step. For the first time in her life, Haru realized that she was not only dancing, but enjoying it! Her grandmother had always been a little disappointed by her granddaughter's lack of rhythm, but now the brunette only wished that her dear grandmother, who had been a mother in everything but blood to her, could watch her dance now!

_If you need to crash, _

_Then crash and burn_

_You're not alone!_

Suddenly, the slim brunette started having suspicions. "You wouldn't happen to be trying to tell me something important, would you, Baron?" she asked dryly as he started twirling her around again and the song returned to how lonely it can be in the midst of uncaring people.

He stopped twirling her around long enough to wrap her into an affectionate and slightly fierce embrace.

Haru hugged him back the best she could as she struggled not to cry in front of him again. "Well, I got it loud and clear," she whispered against his invisible shoulder, rubbing her cheek against it. "Even if it's like this, I'm glad that I got to meet you, Baron. It's kind of nice, finding out how a real gentleman behaves."

She felt one hand on the back of her head as Baron held her even closer. For just a brief instant, Haru could _feel _just how much pain and sorrow he had endured over the years of literally being invisible and insubstantial. In that brief instant, she understood that as much as she needed him, he needed her just as much. He had been just as alone than she had ever been. Perhaps even more.

Haru smiled mischievously, and tapped his unseen yet firm chest twice. "Just for the record, Baron, that message applies to you, too."

He came very close to crushing her in his arms about then, but she didn't mind. Baron regained his senses soon afterward, and released her enough to continue with their waltz as the fervent chorus once again rang throughout the ballroom.

This time, Haru kept her eyes open. Baron was there, and that was all she needed to know.

_Let me be the one you call_

_If you jump, I'll break your fall_

_Lift you up and fly away with you _

_Into the night._

_If you need to fall apart, _

_I can mend a broken heart_

_If you need to crash,_

_Then crash and burn,_

_You're not alone!_

But what the two dancers didn't notice was the cat and bird watching them from a window, wearing identical expressions of chagrin.

'_It so figures, that he'd find a girl to his liking long after it really mattered. But he really should stop leading her on like this.' _Toto brooded worriedly.

ooOoo

The idea to use 'Crash and Burn' from Savage Garden for Cat Returns actually came from cuteknight101, who I'm pretty sure got the idea from the awesome music video on Youtube. Of course, she was leaning more to a one-shot, but I hope that this pleases her.


	12. Once Upon a December

**Chapter Twelve: Once Upon a December**

Muta was brooding at one of the windows when Haru came into the kitchen one morning. The obvious reason for his displeasure was the steady downpour of rain that beat steadily against the fogging glass.

"There's no point in growling at the weather, Muta. It's going to rain whether you like it or not," she informed him with a giggle. Suddenly realizing something, she stormed to the large window over the sink and opened it wide, despite the steady downpour. "Would you like to come inside until it dries out, Toto?!" she called out as loud as she could through the open window, hoping that he had managed to hear her as she stepped aside.

The large crow didn't need a second invitation, flying through the window a few seconds afterward almost raggedly, thanks to his soaked feathers.

Haru shut the window, pulled out some dish towels, and slowly approached the dark dripping bird that was panting on the wooden floor just in front of the refrigerator. "I'm just going to dry off your feathers, Toto. Try to stay calm." With tender care, the slim brunette gently rubbed the numerous towels in the direction that the feathers ran in, being as gentle as she knew how to be.

Toto, surprisingly, leaned into her touch as she dried him off, cawing softly in appreciation.

"For a wild animal, you're being very tame about this," Haru commented as she finished drying off his feathers and set the towels in a corner of the kitchen floor for now. "I just can't believe that you'd attack anyone."

The crow started cackling wickedly, making the slim girl raise an eyebrow as she started boiling water for cream of wheat.

"So, you really did try to rip someone's face off?" she asked skeptically.

The crow nodded slightly, still cackling that evil laughter as Muta joined in with an equally evil purr.

She shook her head at them, and went back to her boiling pot. "He must have been doing something pretty stupid, then. I can't seem to get on your bad side, no matter what I do." Or Muta and Baron's, either.

Toto cawed his agreement, gazing at her with obvious affection. Muta hopped off of the counter he had been sitting on, and walked up to the crow to nudge one of his wings softly while the girl's back was turned. The crow looked at him with surprise as the large white cat shook his head firmly, looking all over the room meaningfully while rubbing his side with one paw sorely.

Toto sighed, and then flew onto the back of one of the chairs at the table to wait for breakfast. _'That's right. Baron's getting a little touchy, where Haru's concerned. I kind of pity whoever eventually tries to date her. Who __**isn't **__a teenage boy, in any case,' _he cackled to himself.

ooOoo

After breakfast, the weather outside was still miserable, so when Muta started pulling on one of Haru's pant legs with his teeth, she gave in without a fight, and started heading to the music room with Toto perched on one shoulder, since the hallway was a little cramped for him to try flying.

"You know, I used to think that _I _was obsessed with music until I met this fatso," she whispered to the bird on her shoulder, who started cackling evilly again behind one of his black wings.

They stepped passed Baron's door, Haru pointedly turning her head so that Baron would know she wouldn't try to break in. The white cat glared at her over one huge shoulder as his ears twitched angrily; an obvious indication that he had overheard her.

"I'm sorry, Muta, but there's no getting around it," she said apologetically as the crow nearly fell off her shoulder in his mirth. "I love you and everything, but you're only slightly slimmer than when I met you. Maybe I should start watching what I feed you a little more closely. You're overdue for a diet."

The fat cat stopped cold in horror, and then started rubbing against her legs while mewing pitifully.

"Don't bother trying to sweet-talk me out of it, Muta," she said firmly while opening the door to the music room. "I'd rather feed you less and keep you longer than feed you more and lose you faster. So, are you going to pick out another song, or should I do it today?"

Toto flew around the spacious room gratefully as he continued his evil cackle at the feline's expense. Muta hissed at the bird, but not even the prospect of a diet could keep him from making a beeline for the music shelf. Sitting just in front of it, he scratched his huge chin thoughtfully while looking at the many music books. His expression became soft, and a little sad. He stood on his hind feet and reached for the second shelf up, and worked free, not a music book, but an old worn notebook.

A little puzzled, Haru took the notebook from her cat, and opened it up. She furrowed her brow, looking at the makeshift music book. "Dang, I knew Renaldo Moon had messy handwriting, but this is a little much."

Muta gaped at her like he was shocked.

She frowned, and looked at the music notes instead. Her expression softened, and became sad. "Oh. This is 'Once Upon a December', isn't it?"

The cat fell on his side in surprise. "_Meow_?!"

The crow wasn't any better from his perch on the covered harp, his beak open in obvious shock. "Caw?!"

"Yes, it is," Haru said firmly, walking over to the piano. "I can't read the title at all, but I know this song better than my own name." She smiled sadly, kissing the notebook before closing and setting it on top of the grand piano. "My grandma said I once sleep-walked to the piano in the middle of the night, just to play it. I believe her. It's such a shame that this song never got published."

Smiling peacefully, the slim brunette sat in the piano bench, placed her fingers on the ivory and ebony keys, and began playing a soft melody that was strongly reminiscent of a music box lullaby.

But unlike every other Renaldo Moon song she had ever played, she opened her mouth, and started singing softly.

"_Dancing bears, painted wings_

"_Things I __**almost **__remember_

"_And a song someone sings_

"_Once upon a December_

"_Someone holds me safe and warm_

"_Horses prance through a silver storm_

"_Figures dancing gracefully_

"_Across my memory- _She held onto the last note for an extra second, her soft voice filling the entire room, and its stunned occupants.

Toto and Muta stared at the girl in complete denial as she kept playing, the song swelling beautifully for a moment, although still with an air of melancholy that one could easily imagine a choir vocalizing to. After a minute had passed, she started singing again.

"_Someone holds me safe and warm,_

"_Horses prance through a silver storm,_

"_Figures dancing gracefully,_

_Across my memory- _she stretched the note again as her heart swelled, thinking about the night that had inspired the lyrics. She hadn't been there, but she had been told more than enough stories to easily recreate the scene in her mind, even if the lyrics didn't describe it so well.

"_Far away, long ago,_

"_Growing dim as an ember_

"_Things my heart used to know_

"_Things it yearns to remember-_ her voice trailed off while holding the note, and she almost stopped playing. Then she started playing one high but soft note at a time, so much like a music box.

"_And a song someone sings-…_

"_Once upon a Dece-em-ber-" _she held the note one last time as the music box melody slowly faded into the echoing room like a memory.

Playing that song had always made her feel better. It was kind of strange that she had gone so long without-

"Where did you hear that song?!" a gruff voice asked from nowhere.

Haru yelped in surprise, falling off of the bench gracelessly with Baron just catching her in his unseen arms. She looked around the room frantically as she stumbled onto her knees with the ghostly lord's assistance. "Who's there?!"

"I am, Chicky."

In shock, Haru slowly looked at her fat pet, who was now standing on his hind paws like a human, with his arms folded like a scolding parent. His expression was haunted, and slightly angry.

"Now answer my question!" Muta demanded. "Who taught you my song?!"

"Please," Toto begged tearfully, sailing off of the harp to land on the ground close to her. "Was it from my daughter? Louise? Do you know what happened to my little girl?"

"Y-you… you…" Haru stammered in shock, inching herself backwards from the two animals fearfully on her hands and knees. "You… talk?"

"Of course we talk! Now answer- oh, great," Muta muttered furiously as the slim brunette's eyes glazed over in shock, and she fell back on the wooden floor in a dead faint, her head stopping just before hitting the ground before gently being set down by unseen hands that brushed her hair away from her face.

"Do you think Baron will get angry at us for talking to her, Bird Brain?"

"Not as angry as _I'm _going to get if she doesn't start talking when she wakes up," Toto said furiously as he stepped over to the unconscious girl, and brushed his wing feathers gently over her face. "And I'll bet anything that Baron will want some answers, too. This girl has brought a few too many coincidences that can't be ignored anymore, and she knows what happened to Louise. I can _feel _it."

"Toto," Muta said slowly, realization hitting him like a bag of wet cement as he gazed at the girl's face. "I think she's already told us about Louise."

"What do you mean?" the crow demanded.

"Know how Haru keeps bringing up her grandma that raised her, and what a great person she was, even in death?" Shaking his head mournfully, he padded to the girl's other side, and licked her cheek painfully. "I bet her grandma even taught her to play piano, which is why her technique was so familiar. Not too many people remember my work anymore, let alone a song I never got to publish, and only a couple dozen people ever heard, let alone remembered decades later."

Toto's mouth dropped open in shock, and he slowly looked down at the slim brunette lying in front of him. He stared at her face for several minutes before he dared to speak again.

"So _that's _why I felt like I knew Haru when I first saw her. My baby," he sobbed, rubbing his head over the young woman's hair as small tears became lost in the dark brown strands, and his wings over the girl's slim shoulders in a compromised hug. "My baby's grandbaby…"

ooOoo

Yes, 'Once Upon a December' _was _one of the songs from the animated movie 'Anastasia'. I'm not taking claim for it, but it just fit so well with the story, I couldn't resist.


	13. Louise's Fate

**Chapter Thirteen: Louise's Fate**

Haru shook her head slightly, and waved one arm in her sleep to bat away the small hand that was trying to shake her awake. "Just two more minutes, Grandma," she sighed, rolling over and pulling the blanket over her head.

"I'm not your grandma, kid!" a gruff voice said angrily.

The slim brunette shot off of the couch she was resting on while screaming in shock, sending the soft blanket flying as she nearly fell backwards over the couch.

But then Baron's familiar arms caught her again, and eased her back into the cushions she had been resting on. She was now in the sitting room, but what she couldn't keep her eyes off of, were the cat and crow sitting on separate chairs directly in front of the couch.

Her heart seemed to stop pounding as the crow opened his beak.

"We're going to ask you some questions, Haru, and we'd really appreciate it if you would answer them," Toto said firmly, looking at her with a fierce affection.

"I've gone mad," the slim brunette whispered, holding her aching head between her hands. "I _knew _this would happen eventually."

"You're not crazy, Chicky. Now answer the question; where did you learn my song?"

Haru stared at Muta with shock, but then leaned forward to pick him up with difficulty and look him straight in the eyes. "_Renaldo Moon_?!" she asked in horror. "Is that really you?!"

"Yeah, it's me, but I like your name for me better. I never really cared for 'Renaldo'," he said gruffly, patting one of her arms insistently. "But will you answer the question already?!"

"My… grandma taught me," Haru said numbly, staring at the crow now. "Louise, that is. Louise Marie Drosselmeyer was her birth name. Grandpa?" she asked in a little girl's voice, like she was afraid to ask if it was possible.

The crow began sobbing, and hopped off of his chair and onto Haru's lap so he could wrap as much of his wingspan around the girl as he possibly could. "So the fatso was right… you really are my grandbaby."

"Great-grandbaby," Haru corrected as she carefully hugged Toto back, tears running down her own face while ignoring the pricks of his talons. "This… is great! I never thought I'd actually get to _meet _you! I thought for sure that you and Uncle Renny died with Baron!"

So _these _two were the ones she had overheard, all those months ago! What a relief!

Muta hopped off of his chair in order to cuddle close to the slim brunette's side. "That's what we _want _the world to think. It's easier than explaining what really happened. But why didn't you tell us who you were when you first moved into the manor?!"

"I thought it was a little after the fact!" Haru said defensively. "I mean, how was I supposed to bring up the fact that I'm the sole descendant of the little girl Baron used to dance with when he didn't feel like dealing with the harpies?!"

Muta jerked around, and held one paw to his mouth to keep the laughter in. "_Harpies_?"

"Vultures? Parasites? Cling-ons? Am I getting any warmer?" she asked slyly as the fat cat nearly fell off of the couch from his mirth.

"Close enough, Haru. But please tell me, what happened to my little girl?" Toto begged, brushing her face with one of his dark wings. "Did she miss me?"

"That is the most ridiculous question I've ever heard! Of course she missed you!" Haru replied hotly. "She's always regretted the fact that you never got to hold her daughter, or me. She regretted not being able to grow up with you around to protect her. She regretted not telling you enough times how much she loved you," the woman sobbed, holding the crow close.

"Was she happy?" Toto choked out. "Please, tell me everything that happened to her over the past several decades."

Haru sighed sadly, stroking her great-grandfather's feathers affectionately. "Well, she always started the story at the party all of you were at, the night everything happened. She said that you, she, and Uncle Renny went up to Baron's place afterward so that you could spend just a little more time together before Baron left to join the army in the morning. After a couple moments of 'be careful' and 'come back soon', there was a knock at the door, and Grandma went to answer it. A stranger grabbed her and held a funny-smelling cloth to her face until she passed out. She's always regretted not being conscious, and not knowing what happened to you three," she said while scratching Muta's brown ear sadly, since he had managed to get himself under control again and had climbed back onto the couch.

"When she woke up, she was in the back of a covered truck with a bunch of German Nazis. Their leader, I think his name was-"

"Adrian Schwarz?" Muta growled.

"Yeah, that's the name. Well, he told Grandma that you three were gone, and nothing could bring you back, because he had settled some old score with Baron, and getting rid of you two were just bonuses. She cried the whole way to Germany. Adrian was planning on letting her grow up, and then marrying her so that his child would be able to harness the Drosselmeyer talent, despite the fact that he was a decent magician himself. Not that it would have worked. Mom didn't have the gift, and neither did Grandma."

"_Is _Adrian your grandfather?" Toto cawed angrily. "He was even older than I am!"

"He isn't," Haru assured him soothingly while rubbing his dark feathers. "When Grandma was fourteen, she met a Japanese soldier in the camp named Nachima Mori. Mori never wanted to be a soldier, he was actually a toymaker. He couldn't hold a candle to you, Grandpa, but he was still pretty good. Well, Mori and Grandma became steady, though cautious, friends, and eventually fell in love. Adrian was furious when he found out, and tried to kill Grandpa. But Grandpa had a few loyal friends that managed to overpower and kill Adrian while he was too enraged to use his magic."

"_YES_!" Muta exulted.

"That's what Grandma said. She wasn't very happy with the idea of marrying her father's killer. Well, it wasn't safe in that camp for any of them anymore, so Grandpa offered to take her with him back to Japan. She didn't want to go at first, but then consented when Grandpa swore to take her back to England after the war was over. She changed her name to Ichigo, so that no one else would find out about her Drosselmeyer blood and try to hurt her or her husband for it."

"So why didn't she come back?" Toto pleaded.

"They didn't have the money to come back for many years. The war had brought Japan to an economic collapse, and Grandpa had to work his heart out on three separate jobs, just to be able to feed the both of them. Well, after things got better for a couple years, Grandma gave birth to my mother, Naoko." Haru stopped talking for a second. "I have a photo book with Mom and Grandma, if you'd like to see it," she said hesitantly. Toto nodded enthusiastically, and hopped off her lap so she could run out of the room for her album.

"At least Louise was married to someone she liked, and not Adrian," Muta offered hesitantly.

Toto paced angrily as tears kept falling from his beady eyes. "Still… I'd have liked the chance to meet my son-in-law. All these years I've missed out on," he mourned. "All the years I can't ever get back…"

"It could be worse!" Muta defended, licking one arm angrily. "Haru could have died in Japan when _her _little girl did, and we never would have gotten to meet her, _or _find out about Louise. Just be grateful for what you're getting, Bird Brain."

The crow sighed sadly. "I guess you're right _this _time."

"What do you mean, _this _time?!"

"Here it is," Haru announced, striding into the room with a large and slightly beat-up binder in her arms, unknowingly cutting off another fight. Carefully, she dragged the two chairs in front of the couch closer together so that she could lay the large binder across them, and open it up. Haru could feel Baron's cool hand on her shoulder as he, perhaps, leaned over her and the two animals next to her in order to look at the old photos.

Toto _knew _the tall blonde woman in the picture, despite the fact that she was dressed in a robe-like kimono and leaning into a dark-haired man's embrace with contentment. "She looks just like her mother," he said tearfully, having known that she would, since his wife had died giving birth to Louise.

"She always loved hearing you say that, you know. It made her feel closer to the mother she had never known." Haru sighed sadly as she turned the pages slowly, and revealed a red-headed bundle of joy in the blonde woman's arms. A bundle of joy that seemed to shoot up like a reed, fondling a half-made quilt in almost every picture. "I never knew my mother either, but I've always thought of her as the sister I never got to meet. It took Grandma years to convince me that she wasn't my mother. As you can see, my mother Naoko was really into making quilts, ever since she was little. She loved them enough to start making her own patterns. She was in college taking writing classes so she could publish a book on them when she met my… I _hate _calling that man 'father'," she fumed. "Well, _he _was finishing up a masters degree in business so he could take over his father's company. It was a lot smaller at the time, so my… _sire_ wasn't snooty about marrying a slightly poor toymaker's daughter. They got along well, and she didn't mind when he needed to be off on meetings for extended periods of time.

"Now that Mom was out of the house, Grandma could devote herself to quilting orders and make a little extra money so that she and Grandpa could afford a trip back here, but just when she and Grandpa had saved enough, he died, and a majority of the funds they had collected went to his funeral. At about the same time, Mom became pregnant with me, and asked for Grandma to move in, since she was starting to get lonely. The company was growing rapidly in the business world, but the cost for that was that my _sire _was almost never around during the pregnancy. He was on a trip to China when I was born, and Mom died from complications soon afterwards. Grandma _tried _to tell him that he'd regret it for the rest of his life if he didn't start making time for me, but about all he was willing to do was sign a hefty check so that _she _could raise me, as long as we stayed in Japan."

Haru shook her head in disgust, glaring at her parent's wedding portrait. "He's such a hypocrite, going all around the world while expecting Grandma and me to stay at home. I wish I had just listened to her when she tried to tell me that he never cared for me and never would. Well, Grandma _could _have returned to England and left me in the care of a nanny, but she didn't want to leave me to grow up all alone like she had. My old man didn't have the slightest clue on how much money it takes to raise a child, so Grandma was able to save up to twenty-five percent of the yearly amount he would send us every year. The plan was that as soon as I turned eighteen, we'd go to England together, and find out exactly what had happened that night. Except she died in her sleep when I was still seventeen, and I wasted the next several years trying to impress a man that only viewed me as a temporary convenience in the first place. I believe I've already told you the rest of the story."

Toto nodded, glaring at the grim man that had married his granddaughter. "Is Machida in there somewhere?"

"I don't know," Haru admitted, sifting through the pages. "I _might _have ripped all his pictures out of here, but I wasn't exactly rational for the few months our divorce took. Oh, here he is." She pointed to another wedding portrait, only she herself was in a splendid white gown, clinging happily to a young man with a red rose boutonniere attached to his black jacket. The handsome young man was smiling in satisfaction, but there was a suppressed air of triumph in his cold cavern-like eyes. Haru shuddered, and made to close the large binder so she wouldn't have to look at her daughter's sire and murderer anymore.

"Wait a second," Toto urged her, studying the man's face carefully with a fierce anger. "I want to make sure I can recognize him if he ever tries to pay a call on you. Few things would give me greater pleasure than to peck out his brains."

Haru laughed softly, and wrapped her arms around the crow again, rubbing one cheek against his head affectionately. "You say the nicest things, Papa Toto."

The dark bird twitched slightly, but laughed contentedly. "Papa Toto… I could get used to hearing that."

His great-granddaughter grinned happily, and brushed her fingers against his feathers again. "All right, I told you everything I know about Grandma. Now it's your turn; what happened that night after Louise was taken out of the picture?"


	14. The Curse

**Chapter Fourteen: The Curse**

Toto made a disgusted face. "We don't know much more than you do, sweetie. Adrian came into this very room, where the fatso-"

"Hey!" Muta protested.

"-and I were with Baron. Adrian Schwarz _used _to be the heir of an old count in Germany, that is, until Baron proved beyond a doubt that Adrian was slowly poisoning the count so that he could gain his inheritance within a few months instead of who knew how many years. The count disowned Adrian after Baron restored him to health, so Adrian took it personally. He tried to kill Baron with his magic, but Baron's always been the better magician, so he got out of that predicament quite easily."

"The only reason we're cursed is because of Louise," Muta said sadly. "Adrian said that if we didn't surrender immediately, he'd go ahead and slit Louise's throat, since he had her in one arm and a knife in the other. We're not like your old man, Chicky, so we surrendered without a fight. Old Hitler had heard of Baron, and knew that he'd be defeated if he had to come against him, so Adrian volunteered to get rid of him. Like you said earlier, Bird Brain and I were just bonuses."

"So what happened next?" Haru asked impatiently.

"Well, he threw magic at Bird Brain first to knock him out, since he had the Drosselmeyer talent and could have turned him into a toy like he deserved, and then me. When we woke up, it was morning, Adrian and Louise were gone, we were like this, and Baron's body was sprawled across the floor in front of the fireplace right there." The large white feline gestured to the marble masterpiece, where a fire was now burning warmly without any actual fuel.

Haru stared at the spot in horror, barely registering the fire. "Has he been able to tell you anything since then?" she begged.

"Just that his and Adrian's magic collided before he died, but we were able to figure out that not only can I not access my magic while I'm a crow, but everything mechanical I had ever made stopped working as well. After we finished panicking, Baron moved his body to his personal chambers and locked the door. He didn't want anyone to do anything to his body, so it seemed like the best thing to do at the time."

Haru shuddered. "No wonder he gets so touchy about that door. But wouldn't anyone running around the house have noticed a smell after a while?"

"Eh? Smell?" Muta asked curiously.

"You know," the slim woman said evasively, not wanting to offend her invisible friend. "The smell of a decomposing body."

"We'll get to that," Toto said sharply, waving his wing from his perch on Haru's lap. "It was fairly obvious that no one down in the village had any clue what happened, and we decided it would be best for no one to find out. So whenever someone with an overly curious nature came along to snoop, we'd scare them off. Baron didn't approve at first, but then he started getting into the act after the police tried to break through his door. He knew they were only doing their job, so he gently picked them up, set them outside the estate and locked the gate on them."

"Was this place really used to hold children from London during the Second World War?" Haru asked curiously.

"Oh, yes. That was Baron's Aunt Ruth's idea. She was always a fun old lady," Muta said wistfully. "She knew that even if Baron was dead, he'd do everything in his power to keep the children under his roof safe." He began cackling evilly. "I _loved _it when Baron flogged all those Nazi soldiers to within an inch of their lives. They had no business being anywhere close to those kids, and Baron wasn't about to stand by and let them get hurt when he could stop it this time."

"I wonder if he still has that whip," Haru mused, since she hadn't seen one while cleaning the manor from top to bottom.

"Of course he does, but he keeps it in his personal chambers with his swords and guns. He's very protective of them, but he doesn't hesitate to use them as needed."

Haru knew it was petty, but the casual acknowledgement of superior weaponry being within easy reach made her feel better, since she was more than certain that Baron would only invest his money in quality work.

"After Aunt Ruth died, her son sold off this place to pay for some gambling debts, and it passed through five owners before Johnny moved in." Muta sighed softly. "He was a young man whose wife had just died, and he needed someplace quiet to heal. He never left, though. When you don't have stupid intentions, there's not really a point to driving someone out."

"I've noticed," Haru said numbly, still stroking Toto's feathers. "So after Johnny died, the manor passed through a few more empty-headed owners until eventually falling to me?"

"More or less," Muta agreed, licking one furry paw and passing it over his face. "There was one idiot that was bent on bulldozing the place to make room for a golfing course. He was the one Bird Brain clawed up."

"Yikes," Haru commented, suddenly realizing something else. "How is it that the two of you are still alive? I'm pretty sure that cats and crows don't live as long as you two have."

"That's thanks to _Adrian_," Toto spat bitterly. "His intention was that we would spend a century living as street animals, and then die. Baron knows more about the curse than we do."

"How can you tell?" Haru asked.

The cat and crow gave each other a rather serious look.

"Well, we know you can keep a secret, Chicky, so here's the deal. Baron isn't exactly… dead yet."

"What?!" Haru demanded, shooting straight out of her chair, making the feline and bird screech in protest. "He haunts the place, can't make us see or hear him, can levitate anything he pleases, but he's not dead?!"

"I know how that sounds," Toto said defensively. "But it's the truth. Baron's body and soul are separated, but he isn't dead. His body looks exactly the same right now as it did when we got cursed."

"How would _you _know that, if he never opens his door?" Haru asked him sternly as her heart pounded in her ears.

"He's got some fairly large windows, and you can see his body lying on the bed like he's just taking a nap."

The slim brunette stared at the crow between her hands, and began giggling helplessly, with just a tinge of hysteria. "You mean… all this time… all they had to do was look through a window to see him?"

"Yup," Muta said with a smirk.

Haru released her great-grandfather, falling back on the couch with helpless laughter. "Oh, that's _priceless_!"

"We rather thought so," Toto smirked. "We occasionally catch Baron opening the windows so he can shake the dust off of the drapes and such, but only when no one's around. Baron's never been able to cope well with filth."

"I knew it," Haru muttered to herself, releasing a final giggle. "So, is the century time limit the same with Baron?"

"Yep. We've been playing the yes and no game with him, same as you, and we managed to come up with a few more details. One, Baron knows a way to break the spell on all of us," Muta said softly.

"He does?" Haru asked in a stunned voice.

"Two, it's something simple," Toto added.

"Well, what is it?" the slim woman asked anxiously.

"We don't know!" Muta yelled while throwing his paws up in the air in frustration. "Baron's been trying to tell us ever since we got cursed, but we just can't figure out what it is!"

"That's terrible," Haru fretted, pacing the front of the marble mantelpiece at a fast pace. "Isn't there anything at all I can do to help?"

"You'd have to ask Baron," Muta said, waving one paw angrily. "Good luck understanding him, though. But then again, he's always been a little hard to understand," he chuckled mournfully. "The curse doesn't allow him to write sentences, let alone type out the solution on your laptop-"

"You weren't supposed to tell her that we've been using it!" Toto yelled, taking to the air so that he could swipe at the cat's cream-colored fur.

"It was still worth a shot, you big chicken!" Muta yelled back, putting his paws up like fists.

"I don't mind you using my computer, as long as you know what you're doing," Haru tried to tell them, but they were too involved with their fight to pay any attention to her right now. Stunned, she watched them exchange ridiculous insults and blows, the fight circling around the couch comically.

"So Grandma _wasn't _exaggerating about you two," the slim brunette said numbly before looking up at the portrait sadly. _'Oh, Baron. I wish there was something I could do about this. I'd love to be able to have a __**real**__ conversation with you.'_

Suddenly, her eyes trailed to the wooden swan she customarily kept on the mantelpiece, just underneath the Baron's portrait. It had taken weeks to carve the shape, and then add the details, but her careful hours were clearly evident in the individual feathers she had painstakingly etched into the hard wood, and then sanded smooth to be rid of any remaining splinters.

'_That's right. I wanted to start experimenting with making paint today. It didn't make sense to try before the carving was done.' _

Suddenly, her heart froze. _'Could I? __**Can **__I?' _With a shaking hand, she took her swan down from its resting place, and looked the figurine square in the eye. "I hope I haven't lost the knack," she muttered before closing her eyes, and trying to draw in the serenity that had surrounded her in her childhood.

Toto and Muta broke off their fight to stare at her as she drew in a long, slow breath, and held it for a moment, concentrating hard.

And then she released that breath, but it was like grey mist as it flew out of her mouth, and into the swan's elegantly carved beak and underneath every feather of the bird's body.

When the mist was finally absorbed, the swan was still, but then began to move from its perch in the slim brunette's hands. The elegant bird suddenly stretched its impressive wooden wingspan to its full width, and hopped off the girl's hands to fly gracefully around the room, its beak opening to blare out a light trumpet sound.

"You have the Drosselmeyer gift?" Toto asked in a slightly worshipful, quiet voice. "That's why you can fix my clocks?"

Haru beamed at the crow, nodded, and held her hand out so that the swan could land again. "You wouldn't believe just how proud Grandma was, the first time she caught me bringing my toys to life. But she warned me not to tell anyone, so that I wouldn't be taken from her like she was taken from you, Papa Toto. I don't think I even told Machida about it. He wouldn't have believed me, anyway. He's a skeptic in everything but money and influence."

"Just how many more secrets do you have up your sleeve anyway, Chicky?!" Muta demanded, beating one of his paws against his chest to help his heart start beating again.

"Well," Haru said slowly, giving the question some serious thought as the swan lost the spark of life she had given it, and returned to being a regular toy. "I turned twenty-seven last week. Does that count?"

"Of course it counts! You should have said something earlier so that we could have-" Toto replied hotly, but then stopped cold. "Haru, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That maybe if I make a special doll that resembles Baron, his soul can enter it long enough to tell us how to break the curse, Nutcracker-style?" his great-granddaughter asked with a mischievous grin.

"Exactly," the bird crowed, flying around the room ecstatically. "You see, Pork Chop?! Good things _do _happen when one's making toys instead of music!"

"Okay, you win this time!" Muta retorted, looking at the girl longingly. "But do you think you can do it, Chicky? I don't mind dying, I've lived long enough, but I'd rather be buried under my own name."

"I bet I could, especially with Toto to help me with the finer details!" Haru exulted, but then calmed down enough to realize that she had forgotten something fairly important. "Baron? Are you still here?"

He gently gripped the sides of her face with his cool unseen hands to nod her head enthusiastically.

"We're talking about _your _soul. Do… you approve of our plan?" she asked hesitantly, tugging on a lengthening lock of her hair that brushed against her chin.

Baron didn't quite hurt her when he fervently nodded her head again, but it was strong enough for her to reach up and attempt to take his hands off her face.

"All right. I'll do it," she assured her invisible friend.

The unseen lord took his hands off her immediately, only to draw her into what would have been a warm embrace, had it been from someone still inside a flesh and bone body. As it was, Baron's hug was incredibly firm, though obviously affectionate.

"What's the first step, Papa Toto?" Haru gasped just before the ghostly gentleman released her, clearly clued in from her strangled voice.

The crow cocked his head slyly at his great-granddaughter's direction, but didn't say anything about Baron's unprecedented affection. "Better get out a drawing pad, sweetie. You'll want a very precise idea of how the toy's going to look before you even _try _setting knife to wood."

"What's with the 'sweetie'?" Muta asked curiously.

"Well, what's with the 'Chicky'?" Toto countered.

"I'm fine with both names!" Haru insisted as she walked out of the room to start looking for something to draw on. "Machida used to call me 'babe', so I'll be content with both of _your _terms of endearment."

"Babe?" Muta asked while pulling a funny face. "You're not the right type, Haru. You're still cute," he added quickly. "But-"

"Just never let that word cross your lips again, and I won't have to execute the peanut butter threat," Haru said tightly over one shoulder, her temper growing short just by the mere _mention_ of the despised nickname.

Muta shuddered, and wisely fell silent until Toto started laughing behind one wing. And the battle was resumed once more.

But not even that was enough to dampen the invisible Baron's wildly ecstatic mood.

'_It's almost over! I'll finally be able to __**talk **__to her! Oh dear, what will I say?! Will she still like me?!'_


	15. Baron's Design

**Chapter Fifteen: Baron's Design**

Haru frowned over her most recent sketch, and then tore it out of her brand new sketch book in frustration, crumpling it up and throwing it over one shoulder.

"Hey!" Toto protested, dodging the latest projectile to be thrown in his direction. He was perched on top of a chair over his great-granddaughter's shoulder so that he could see what she was doing. "You don't have to rip them out, Haru."

"I know," she fretted, looking at the empty pad lying across her lap. "I… just can't come up with a design that fits Baron's personality. It'd be easier if I could just make an exact replica of him from that portrait up there."

"No can do," the crow disagreed, preening one of his wings thoughtfully. "If the toy's an exact replica, then the soul won't be able to enter it. That's why the Prince Franz's soul was inserted into a nutcracker during the time of Christian Elias Drosselmeyer, my great-great-great-great-grandfather. Also your great-great-great-great-great-"

"I get the idea, Papa Toto," Haru giggled. "But I wouldn't be able to look myself in the eye if I inserted Baron's soul into a nutcracker. I just can't picture him with a huge mouth."

The crow cackled his mischievous laugh. "I see your point. Baron wasn't one to keep talking; Muta and I took care of that for him. Baron was more of a thinker and doer." He sighed sadly. "But beating yourself over this isn't going to make a design come any faster. Why don't you take a nap for a while?"

"I'm not tired," she protested, but Toto covered her mouth with the tip of one wing.

"Actually, you are. I'm your grandfather, I can tell. Don't make me bring Baron into this," the crow said half-seriously.

"You're cheating," Haru said miserably, closing the pad while sitting up from her place on the couch, stretching like a cat. "Dealing with one bully's bad enough, but how am I supposed to stand up to three, especially when one of you can levitate me whenever he feels like it?"

"I've been keeping the fatso off your back about the piano," Toto protested, landing on her shoulder long enough to wrap his wings around her head for a careful embrace.

"But you can hear him complaining from across the manor," the brunette muttered under her breath while patting his feathers affectionately. "Honestly, how did you two keep from speaking in front of Johnny and myself until you felt like letting me in on the secret?"

"Practice," Toto shrugged. "We'd occasionally talk in front of tenants that we wanted gone, but just enough to convince them that they had been driven mad. Muta's a master at speaking nonsense."

"Be nice," she chided, biting back a giggle. She kissed his head once, and allowed him to fly off her shoulder so she could walk out of the room.

"Haru?" Toto suddenly asked, making his sole descendant turn around mid-step, her drawing pad between her arms.

"Yes?" she asked curiously.

The crow looked at her nervously, twitching his feathered head this way and that. "I… I need to know, sweetie. What do you think of Baron?"

The slim brunette suddenly felt like she was going to sway right off her feet from another swoon. But, sensing just how important the question was to him, she thought about it carefully. "Well… I hold him in the highest possible regard. I know that he's a good man with more talents than I've been able to keep track of, and that Grandma was telling me the absolute truth when she first told me about him."

"What did she say?" Toto asked curiously.

Haru shrugged a little, and opened the door to leave. "That the world would be a much better place, if there were more men like Baron running around in it. I'll see you in a few hours when it's time to make dinner."

The crow stared at her incredulously as she closed the door behind her, but she didn't notice.

ooOoo

While slipping off her cream-colored slippers, Haru wondered why her great-grandfather needed to know her opinion of Baron so badly. Wasn't it blatantly obvious from her actions that she respected him, more than just about any man she had ever met before moving to the manor?

She sighed, and cuddled into a fetal position on her canopied bed. "That was really silly of him. The reason I fell for Machida was because he pretended to be a gentleman like Baron is. But I'm pretty sure that Baron won't ever hurt me the way _he _did."

A gentle hand nodded her head firmly in confirmation, and the blanket from the foot of the bed unfolded itself to securely tuck around the girl's slender form.

Haru managed a final giggle before closing her eyes. "Normally, I'd hate the idea of a guy in my room, but… the knowledge that you're there watching over me, makes me feel safe, Baron. Thanks for being my _real_ friend. You have no idea just how much that means to me."

Just as she drifted off, a few crystal tears managed to squeeze past her guard, but they were gently brushed away by a cool hand that she knew very well.

Her heart ached anew, wishing, just once, to hear what Baron's voice sounded like. Her great uncle and great-grandfather's voices were much like her dear grandmother had described them, but Louise had never really gone into details with the Baron, usually only giving him a passing reference.

If not for the look in her periwinkle eyes, Haru would have thought that her grandmother had just not paid any attention to Baron. Reluctantly, the brunette was forced to conclude that not only had her grandmother had better taste in men, but had also kept a special place in her heart for the ghostly lord, until the day she died.

Not that Haru could blame her grandmother. After all, she herself had been developing a soft spot for him for the past several months. Was it a family weakness, perhaps?

She sighed, and fell asleep.

ooOoo

_At first, everything was still dark. But after a few moments, the world around her lightened up, revealing her to be in the middle of a large silver fog._

"_Hello?!" she called out, holding one hand to her mouth to help the sound go just a little farther. No one answered._

_She rubbed her bare arms a little for warmth, and started walking on the firm silver grass. The slim brunette had walked around blindly, perhaps for five minutes or so, before seeing… __**something **__in the distance. _

"_Um, hello?" she called out, running towards the shadowy thing that had caught her eye._

_Upon getting closer, Haru realized that it was actually a figure, sitting alone on a wrought-iron park bench. The figure looked up at the sound of her voice, and turned around curiously._

_Haru stopped five feet away from the bench, and stared in astonishment._

_It was Baron, looking just a little older than he had in the portrait, but he was wearing the same gray suit. He had a small red book open in one hand, but his glowing green eyes were locked on her._

_The young lord smiled warmly, and gestured for her to sit down next to him on the bench as he slid to one side to make room for her. _

_Feeling a little nervous, Haru did as he requested. "Is that really you, Baron?" she asked hesitantly._

_He smiled mischievously at her as he slid a bookmark into the book, closed it, and offered it to her. She took it from him, and looked at the cover._

'_Sleeping Beauty?' "I didn't know you were into fairy tales, Baron. Is this version any good?" the slim brunette asked, since she didn't see an author's name anywhere on the binding._

_He grinned at her again, and nodded. Haru couldn't help but notice that when he __**really **__smiled, the expression was almost cat-like, and sent shivers down her spine. That was strange; she wasn't scared of Baron, so why was her heart beginning to pound so hard?_

_She brushed it off, and opened the book to the title page, only to stare in shock._

'_Sleeping Beauty, by Baroness Haru von Gikkingen.'_

"_What?!" she screamed in shock, jumping off the bench and almost falling backwards over it. _

_Baron swiftly hopped out of his seat, catching her by the waist with an almost practiced gesture. His gaze was affectionate, and slightly sad as he eased her off the cold hard bench, and into his embrace to hold her close, nearly forcing her to sit on his lap while he was still on the park bench._

"_Is this a prank, Baron?" Haru babbled, blushing a deep magenta color as he held one hand to the back of her head, so that she could comfortably rest her head on his firm shoulder. "I mean, don't you deserve someone a little, well, __**classier **__than me? I'm just a little beneath-"_

_Baron firmly pressed his fingers against her stammering lips, paralyzing her with his green-eyed gaze._

_He smiled a little sadly again, shook his head firmly, and leaned forward to press a respectfully chaste kiss onto her trembling lips._

ooOoo

"Holy peanut butter!" Haru exclaimed out loud, falling off of her bed again, and getting tangled up in the blanket her unseen friend had so carefully tucked around her slim form. She blushed deeply while detangling herself from the soft cotton cloth, and started pacing the room like a gazelle with two fingers pressed against her soft lips, her heart still beating out of control.

"Did _you _plant that dream into my mind, Baron?" she asked suspiciously. A curious unseen hand shook her head, one cool finger trailing up the side of her head in order to tap at her temple once.

"It wasn't important," she hastily assured him, blushing worse at the thought of _telling _Baron that she had thought that he would kiss her. That had been nothing more than a strange dream.

"But what was the business with the book?" she asked herself, looking at the modest marble fireplace that she never used. "Why Sleeping Beauty?" The slim brunette sighed, and sat down in a large but comfy chair next to the window. "Did you like that story when you were alive, Baron?"

He hesitated, but then slowly shook her head with one finger, and then nodded it up and down.

"But you find it interesting now?" Haru guessed, making her friend nod her head enthusiastically. She giggled a little. "I never liked Sleeping Beauty. I mean, it sounded just a little shallow to fall in love and marry someone, _just _because they happened to kiss you awake. I found the idea of a thorn-encased castle much more interesting. If nothing else, it cut back on unwanted callers. But I'd probably change my mind if I were in _your _position, Baron," she added sadly.

Almost by accident, her eyes landed on the drawing pad she had set on the table next to her, before her nap. A beam of sunlight fell through the window to land on the slightly worn cover invitingly.

With a shock, Haru thought about Baron's almost feline smile in her dream. Slowly, she reached for the pad, grabbed a pencil, and started sketching again.

The first thing she drew was a cat's head, reasonably standard, but with two colors that appeared to be white and light grey. The white overtook the bottom part of the face, while the light grey underlined each eye before running down the back of his head. She neatly settled a gentleman's top hat between his somewhat large triangular ears, and started drawing the body. It was identical to what was in the portrait she had been studying for the past week, complete with a light grey suit, but a slightly darker grey tail swished to the side from the back, between the space of his suit jacket and the seat of his pants.

Haru studied her work carefully, stunned at the simplicity. All she had really done was given Baron a tail and a cat's version of his head. But he was sitting on an unseen bench, looking back at her just the way he had in her dream, arms folded, and a content smile on his face with a small book in one hand. His light grey eyes were fairly large and slanted, but contained that spark of kindness that he had looked at her with, in the dream. The cane from the portrait was nowhere to be seen, but Haru was fairly certain that she would include one when it was time to carve the doll.

"What do you think, Baron?" she asked softly, turning the pad around to face the empty room. "Would you be able to stand living in a body like this for a few hours? The coloring's only black and white on this, but I'll put your actual coloring on the… doll…" she trailed off, watching her pencil float off of the armrest of the chair, and fly over the pad in order to make a quick mark on the paper before floating back to its proper place.

Haru turned the pad around, to notice that her ghostly gentleman had put a small checkmark on the upper right corner of the page, a silent but noticeable approval. Then the pad was firmly set on the table next to her, and she was once again wrapped up in Baron's firm but slightly cold embrace.

"I'm glad you like it, Baron," she whispered, doing her best to hug him back. _'You took away my scars, both inside and out. Now it's my turn to take yours.'_


	16. The Lumber Yard

**Chapter Sixteen: The Lumber Yard**

Haru felt a little nervous, stepping into the lumber yard again, but she wasn't about to allow her fear to keep her from her mission. She looked around herself, studying the different types of wood as an overprotective crow flew along the iron mesh fence surrounding the yard before landing on the roof of the small shed where all the sales were concluded. Toto had volunteered to escort her whenever she had to step outside the von Gikkingen lands, just to be sure that she was safe, and nothing she could say could persuade him to stay home.

Of course, she didn't protest very hard. She still wasn't very comfortable being around other humans, and her little stun gun might not prove to be enough in an emergency.

One burly old man heaved a long beam neatly onto a large pile, and grunted while turning around. "Oh, it's you," he growled at the slim girl, running his cut-up hand through his graying hair. "Did you like the white ash?" he asked, concerning the wood she had just finished turning into a graceful swan.

"Yes, Mr. Tyler. It was a little hard to carve, but it took paint like a dream. I was hoping to buy a little more wood from you, about eighteen inches long and at least four inches in diameter."

"Another toy, lass?" he chuckled roughly, gesturing to his lumber. "Well, is the toy going to be functional at all, or another one to admire on a shelf?"

"Probably the second. It's a gift for a dear friend, and I want it to last."

Mr. Tyler growled his approval, and started walking through the yard with her. "Well, you'll want it to be sturdy, but something that'll accept paint easily?"

"A friend of mine suggested basswood," Haru offered hesitantly, with a nervous glance behind her to the crow that was shadowing them. Toto winked at her roguishly, but didn't say a word.

"That's a good one for carving, but I don't have it." Instead, the old man led her to a stack of light cream-colored wood near the back of the lumber yard. "But this one's always a good alternative. It's butternut, a cousin to walnut."

"Nice grain," Haru said appreciatively running her soft fingers over one of the top of the beam. "It even looks like it's about the right size."

"Is it the one you want, lass?" he asked her gruffly, but his eyes were a great deal softer than his voice.

"I believe it is," Haru said firmly. "But could I have two pieces? One eighteen inches long, and a second one about five inches so I could use it for practice? I don't want to make a mistake on the doll itself, if I can avoid it."

"Sure thing," Mr. Tyler grunted, picking up the eight-foot long beam like it was nothing, and heading towards his little shed to saw off her required measurements. "'tis wonderful, to see a young one so taken with a dying craft. Not too many people bother to make _anything _with their hands anymore," he said mournfully.

Haru nodded sadly stepping just to the other side of the shed wall so that she wouldn't get sprayed with sawdust as he cut her wood pieces with his table saw. "My grandma used to say 'if it wasn't handmade, it wasn't worth what you paid for it'." She grinned up at Toto, who looked away guiltily.

Mr. Tyler laughed as he turned off his saw, and placed the wooden pieces in a large paper bag before racking up the total on an ancient register. "Sounds like your grandma was a smart woman, lass. I'll need eight pounds from you."

Haru wrote the check out, and handed it to the gruff old man before hugging her wood-filled bag happily like a little girl holding a new doll. "Thanks again for your help, Mr. Tyler, but please don't expect to see me for a couple months. This doll's going to be my masterpiece."

"Well, now! First piece was a trial, and the second one a show-stopper?" the old Scotsman laughed heartily. "Don't lose that confidence, lass. And bring _this _toy by my lumber yard when you finish it, all right?" he asked casually, although his tired blue eyes were nearly begging.

"I'll try to remember," she giggled, shaking his hand before walking outside of the chain link fence, and back into her waiting truck. Gently, she set the bag on the passenger seat, right next to the brown paper package that had arrived at the post office for her that very day. Inside was a brand new set of carving tools, since Toto had insisted that she needed better equipment than her little pocketknife, which was beginning to grow dull anyway.

He had offered her his own set of carving tools, but they were so rusted over from lying in the basement for decades that they were no longer usable by the time Toto had managed to lead her to them. Still, as she had consoled her great grandfather over and over again, it was the thought that counted.

"Was that it for today?" Toto whispered as he flew past her head.

She grinned at him, and stepped inside the truck. "I still need some groceries. Our white friend is a little hard to keep up with."

The crow followed her truck with his cackling laughter.

ooOoo

Haru looked from one jar of tomatoes to the other. _'Oh, drat it. I can't choose between the added garlic cloves or the one with minced onion.' _Shrugging, she tossed both into her cart, adding various large canned vegetables to help tide her through the upcoming winter months. Muta had firmly told her that it usually snowed before the middle of October every year, and blizzards were commonplace by November.

"Haru? Miss Haru?"

The slim brunette looked over one shoulder, and smiled warmly. "Hello Rachel, Mrs. Smith. Nice day, isn't it?"

"Enjoy it while you can, dear," the older blonde said with a wink. "The weather usually turns sour after September ends. My, isn't it a little late to be wearing that shirt?" she asked, glancing at the short-sleeved lavender t-shirt the slim brunette was currently wearing.

"Maybe," Haru shrugged, still ecstatic that she could wear the shirt without needing to feel ashamed. "I just got tired of sweating for no reason. Rachel," she giggled helplessly. "You look like you're going to burst. What's up?"

The young teenager gave a shiver and squeal of excitement. "I'm sorry, Haru, but I have to break a promise I made to someone. There was a handsome man asking around for you this morning."

Haru's heart froze in dread. "Tall, dark with shaggy hair? Japanese like me?"

"Yes! He said that you and he used to be a couple, and he wanted to surprise you-Haru!" Rachel suddenly cried out as the slim woman nearly fell to the ground, clutching the side of her cart with trembling fingers.

"_What have you done_?" Haru whispered in horror. "You didn't tell him where to find me, did you?"

"I… I did. I thought it would make you happy," she stammered, making the brunette start shaking her head numbly.

"You… you…" Haru tried to say in her sorrowful rage, but couldn't say more to the well-meaning but mislead blonde, cursing herself for not telling any of the townspeople that she was in hiding.

"What's the matter, dear?" Rachel's mother tried to ask while reaching out to the foreign girl, but she broke away and ran out of the aisle, then out of the store like a frightened gazelle.

"Haru, what's wrong?" Toto asked in a low voice, more than a little shocked to see the girl run out of the store without a single bag, and nearly rip her truck door off its hinges in her eagerness to slip into the car.

"Machida knows where I live," she said in a scared voice, turning the key in her ignition. "If I'm going to face him again, I'd rather have Baron close by. Try to keep up."

Haru was usually a very careful driver, but as soon as she was outside city limits, she accelerated faster than she had ever gone on the mountain road before, a terrible fear gripping her like a paralyzing disease. _'No, please no. Let it be someone, anyone other than __**him**__! I'd even accept another meeting with my father over him, and I've already sworn never to speak to him again!'_

Toto was long behind her by the time she made the familiar curve to the front of the von Gikkingen estate. She ducked low as she forced herself to stop in front of the wrought iron gate long enough for Baron to open it for her a little faster than his usual pace. The terrified girl didn't even try to open a window to tell him to open the gate faster, thinking there was a chance that her unseen ex might just shoot her and avoid a confrontation if he possibly could.

Even worse, a small black car had followed her up the road. She didn't even need to see the driver to know who he was.

Once the gate was open, her tires screeched on the pavement in her eagerness to go through, but Baron left the gate open for the car behind her, possibly believing that it belonged to a friend of hers.

No. She would not panic. She would not give her ex the satisfaction of seeing her tremble in fear. She forced herself to assume a mask of calm indifference, and pulled up directly in front of the house instead of going to the garage.

But she kept one hand on her stun gun, and calmly stepped out of the truck like she didn't see the black car door opening as well.

"Now _here's _a surprise," a familiar cold voice drawled, icicles nearly clinging to the air from his tone. "Little Miss 'I-don't-care-about-riches' is living in a house bigger than the one she shared with me a year ago. So much for not hiding who she really is," he sneered, deliberately trying to goad her.

Haru didn't turn. Instead, she calmly grabbed her large paper bag, slipped her postal package into it alongside the wood, and closed the truck door.

If nothing else, she could use the wood to take a bullet for her. She could always buy more, and she knew Baron would understand. "I'm sorry, _sir_," she said calmly, putting a disdainful emphasis on the last word while keeping her back to him as she walked up the front steps. ", but this is not a hotel. If you wish to stay in town for the night, check down the road. If you'll excuse me-"

"No, I won't," he snarled, a clicking sound making it clear that he was pointing a gun at her back.

She suddenly got a very uncomfortable feeling between her shoulder blades. _'Please, Baron,' _she silently prayed.

"You took something from me," Machida growled. "My family's name is ruined because of you!"

"Actually, it's because of _you_," she corrected. "I'm not the one that killed my unborn child and tried to do the same to my spouse."

"But it's your fault that it happened!" he roared.

The brunette wheeled around fast, her eyes blazing. "I'm not the one that went out drinking every night! I'm not the one that was being unfaithful with three different women at the same time! I'm not the one that kicked a pregnant woman until she threw up blood! You took my daughter; you're not getting anything else!"

"How much do you want to bet on that?" he purred, pointedly aiming for between her eyes.

"Your sanity," she said calmly, although she was inwardly screaming for Baron to interfere immediately. "Unless you leave this place right now, and never come back, you just might not live to see the sun go down."

Machida laughed harshly. "You never did know how to make a good threat. Wait," he said, his angry eyes slowly filling with confusion, and his gun lowered slightly. "Where are your marks?"

She smiled smugly at him, slowly running a hand over one of the smooth arm holding the large paper bag. "A very dear friend found them offensive, so he got rid of them for me. Wasn't that nice of him?"

"A lover?" he asked harshly.

"Even if he was, you wouldn't have any room to talk," she snapped. "Now get out of here, before things turn ugly for you. You really have no idea just what you're messing with right now." She could see over Machida's shoulder a crow struggling from exertion a good half-mile away, but he'd be too tired to help her by the time he reached the estate.

"Enough," the tall man growled, leveling his gun at her again. "I had a lot of trouble getting out of that jail, and tracking you down. If you hadn't once told me how much you had always wanted to come to England, I just may never have found you. The money doesn't matter to me anymore; only this." He cocked the handgun once, and aimed for her head. "Goodbye, Haru, and good riddance."

He pulled the trigger… but nothing happened. "What the…" He began struggling with the gun, but it now refused to do anything he wanted. He began swearing in Japanese under his breath as he flushed red with embarrassment.

Relieved, the brunette started giggling. "_Now _I understand, Baron. You wanted me to give him fair warning, in the sense of fair play. Well, I think we've been about as fair as anyone can expect of us."

"Who are you talking to?" Machida asked suspiciously as Haru gestured at the would-be assassin disdainfully with one hand.

"I'd rather you didn't kill him over me, since he's not worth it, but if you feel the need to chastise him for his behavior, please feel free," Haru invited, fairly sure of what would happen next.

She was still looking at the arrogant man's bewildered face when an invisible blow to the jaw knocked him clear off his feet, and solidly into the front of his car, smashing the glass spectacularly. The gun he dropped levitated in the air for a second, and twisted grotesquely, like it was made of rubber, but then fell to the ground in the same position it had been forced into.

The tall broken man shrieked in pain, and slowly tried to wipe the blood off his face with one cut up hand. "What was _that_?!" he cried out in fear.

"Machida, allow me to introduce Baron Humbert von Gikkingen III," Haru said formally, unable to keep a slightly evil smirk from crossing her face. "He's the friend I just told you about, and he's a little less than pleased with my descriptions of your conduct. Can't imagine why," she added blandly as a pair of invisible hands grabbed the front of her ex-husband's freshly pressed button-up shirt, and threw him bodily against the front of the black car, again and again.

"I've always liked Baron's idea of justice," Muta commented, hopping through an open window to rub against his niece's leg. "Especially when it's overdue." He'd have come out of the house sooner to help the girl against the would-be assassin, except the unseen lord had restrained him sharply, obviously waiting for his chance to take charge of the situation.

"I wonder what's more terrifying," Haru said numbly as she sat down next to him on the front steps to the manor, watching Machida's body get thrown to the ground, and the back of his expensive jacket and shirt torn off like cheap tissue paper. "Getting brutally assaulted by someone you trusted, or by someone you can't even see."

"I'd go for the second one, Chicky," Muta offered with a smirk, watching a familiar whip make a journey through the air from the back of the house, and stop over the terrified and beaten man with a note of finality.

"I _know _I shouldn't be enjoying this," Haru said in a broken voice as the unseen lord began flogging the screaming victim.

Machida desperately tried to crawl away as the whip sharply caressed his back in a set rhythm of one lash every three seconds to make the pain last. But every time the blubbering fool managed to crawl a little too far, he was dragged back for more deserved punishment.

"When I think about telling Baron to stop… I remember the daughter I could have had." A few tears of still present heart-pain strayed down her face, making Baron double his terrible assault on the flailing boy at his unseen feet.

"It's okay," Muta said soothingly, licking her cheek as Toto finally struggled to the porch and perched on it. "Baron can beat him up as long as you want him to. Possibly longer, just for the heck of it."

"What'd… I miss?" the crow gasped.

"Some half-witty banter, and Baron using Machida as a sledge hammer to destroy his own car. The whipping started fairly recently," his great-granddaughter said softly as her ex-husband cried out for mercy, just like she had done when _he_ had spilled _her_ blood. That just made her angry. Didn't he realize that this was coming to him? Why should he get the mercy that she had longed for?

"Drat it," Toto pouted, his dark eyes gleaming wickedly. "At least I didn't miss out on the whipping, too."

"I should probably call an ambulance," Haru said softly.

"No need to hurry, Chicky. I don't think he's learned his lesson yet."

"Except if I don't call someone soon, I could get in trouble with the police," she pointed out, setting aside her large paper bag so she could pull out her cell phone.

Baron immediately but gently snatched the device from her hand to place it on a second-story windowsill of the manor. He obviously wasn't ready for her to interfere quite yet.

"Remember not to kill him, please," the slim girl reminded him as a familiar cool touch brushed her face, the whipping temporarily stopped as her dear friend silently assured her of his intentions on her behalf. She smiled softly, and put her hand over where she could feel Baron's hand as Machida groaned in pain on the pavement several yards away, the whip suspended in the air for now.

"All right, all right," her great-uncle smirked, waddling down the steps toward the screaming victim. "Toto and I can make sure that no one will think he's sane, including him. Coming, Bird Brain?"

"Coming," the crow cawed evilly, taking flight again. "All right Baron; you've had your fun. It's our turn now."


	17. An Investigation

**Chapter Seventeen: An Investigation**

"So, let me get this straight," the police officer said slowly, watching the paramedics load the unconscious Machida into the back of the ambulance as a tow truck took the half-demolished car out the front gates, the sunset casting everything in the cobblestoned driveway to the slowly darkening shadows. "This is your ex-husband that tried to kill you last year, he tried again today, and the Baron whipped him to a pulp for you?"

"That more or less covers it," Haru said numbly from her seat on the front steps, with Muta across her lap as he purred evilly with satisfaction.

"The Baron's seldom gone this violent," the officer pointed out, writing in his notepad. "Why didn't you call earlier?"

"Baron took away my cell phone until he felt Machida had sufficiently paid for his sins."

"You could have called from the house," the officer said sternly.

"No. Baron would have disabled the lines if I tried that. He was _very _put out with Machida."

"Do you have some sort of proof that it wasn't _you _who did this to him?" the middle-aged policeman pressed, figuring that she had plenty of incentive to have done the job herself.

Haru looked down at his feet, and bit back a sad smile. "If you'll look at your shoes, you'll see a good reason to believe me, but I wouldn't recommend asking for more."

The officer looked down… and paled. His shoelaces were unlacing themselves, and tying together without anyone's assistance. If he dared to move his feet, it would send him falling backward down the very hard stone front steps of the von Gikkingen manor.

"Please get off, Muta," Haru said, gently shooing her giant cat off her lap so she could lean forward enough to tie the officer's laces back to its original knots. "You should be careful when you ask Baron to provide proof of any kind. He doesn't appreciate it very much."

"I-I can see that," the redheaded officer stuttered, staring at the girl as she leaned back again.

"May I?" she asked, holding her hand out for the official notepad in his hands. Wordlessly, he handed it to her.

She flipped to the next page, and started writing. "I'm giving you the personal email address of Detective Hino, the one who handled my case in Japan. The next word is a password that you'll have to type exactly, so that he knows that you're not faking a connection with me. Ask him to brief you and your superior, if he's curious, on my case, and tell Detective Hino what happened to Mr. Mishuzi when he tried to finish what he started. Then, you can go ahead and try to tell Baron that he was being overenthusiastic in his chastisement. I wouldn't recommend it, but at least you'd have the background to say anything."

"Th-thank you, Miss Haru," he stammered as she handed back the notepad back.

"Should we take her in for questioning?" another officer asked, coming up from behind the first, the twisted gun in a large plastic bag for evidence, as well as another bag containing several blood-stained glass shards.

"No!" the first officer said sharply, inclining his head to the girl before leaving her. "She's under the Baron's protection, and we all know it's folly to anger him. Let's just get out of here, before he decides he's not done with that whip, wherever he may have hidden it."

"I _love _how quickly the locals find out how the wind blows," Muta gloated in a low voice as the police and paramedics drove through the open gate and down the road back to the village.

"Be nice," Haru murmured numbly, getting to her feet so she could walk through the front door Baron had just opened for them. She balanced the large paper bag on one hip, but her hands were shaking slightly.

"It's a good thing you came home as soon as you did," Toto informed her, perching on one shoulder. "He had been following you since you passed the park. He must have been waiting for you to go someplace without witnesses."

"Well, he got that, all right," Muta smirked.

"Can we talk about something else?" Haru begged, setting her bag down in the sitting room before settling herself into her favorite chair, close to the fireplace.

"Are you all right, sweetie?" Toto asked, brushing his head against hers as her body began to tremble.

"I… was so scared," she whispered, ashamed of herself. "When he pointed that gun at me…"

Baron immediately wrapped her into a fierce embrace, nearly knocking Toto off her shoulder in the process.

"But you didn't look scared, Chicky," Muta protested, rubbing against her leg. "Heck, if someone pointed a loaded gun at _me_, I don't think I'd have been able to have stayed half as calm as you did. Did she eat anything in the village?" the fat cat suddenly asked the crow.

"If she did, it wasn't very much," Toto reported. "Haru, have you had anything since breakfast?"

She mutely shook her head, one hand over the lord's invisible shoulder.

"I think we still have some lasagna from the other night-" Muta tried to say.

"No," Haru begged, cutting her uncle off. "I'll just throw it up before I'm done swallowing it. I… I just want to get started on Baron's doll," she added, reaching through her family and around her unseen friend for the bag on the table next to her, but it lifted into the air and moved to the far side of the room.

"I'm not going to allow that, Haru, and neither is Baron," Toto disagreed. "Look at your hands. You'll carve more out of yourself than the butternut if you try to hold a tool right now."

The slim brunette looked at her extended hand, which was shaking noticeably. "I guess you're right," she said regretfully. She should probably stay away from her regular chores for the same reason. "I think I should go to bed. I'm probably going to be useless for a while."

"You are not!" Muta snapped without thinking. "I think you mean 'indisposed'. You're never useless, no matter what you may have heard."

"But go ahead and get some sleep," Toto added, butting heads with her before hopping to the back of the chair so that she could shakily stand up.

Haru smiled warmly at her real family, and kissed each of them on the head before staggering to the door.

Just as it closed behind her, Baron lifted her gently of her feet, with her body curving in the air like she was being held bridal style, his cool arms firmly around her slim form. She could almost feel each step that her unseen friend took, as he carried her down the hall and up the stairs, forever cradling her like a priceless china doll.

He set her down respectfully in front of her door, but Haru reached out to stop him from leaving her just yet.

"Baron?" she asked.

His cool hand touched her face, reassuring her that he was still right there with her.

She took a deep breath for courage, the action nearly making her swoon again. But she needed to tell him now, while her grandfather and uncle were definitely not around to eavesdrop. This wasn't really any of their business.

"I don't usually approve of violence. In fact, I can't remember when I ever did, but… what you did today was without a doubt the most chivalrous thing a man's ever done for me. Thank you for being around when I needed you. Thank you… for just being you."

The unseen hand on her cheek trembled slightly, like Baron wasn't quite sure how to take her gratitude. But, as Haru strongly suspected would happen, he suddenly wrapped her into a fierce embrace again. She put her arms around him the best she could, her head resting on his insubstantial shoulder comfortably.

She had no way of knowing this, but she was certain that Baron was speaking to her, trying with all his might to make her understand… something. Something that she couldn't even _begin _to guess at.

But he eventually pushed her gently away, and a pair of cool lips pressed against her brow as his sprit left her.

The slim brunette could still feel the imprint of that kiss, long after she had fallen asleep, and it felt _wonderful_.

ooOoo

Haru was working hard the next morning, on the smaller wood piece that she had bought the day before, when her small cell phone rang.

"Who could that be?" Muta grumbled sourly, since the bell-like tones had disturbed his cat nap.

"You're supposed to answer the call first," Toto pointed out from his perch over his great-granddaughter's head as she opened the cell phone and held it to her ear with her shoulder so she could continue carving.

"Hello?" she asked absently.

"Hello, Miss Haru. This is Officer Jameson, the one you spoke to yesterday?"

"Yes, I remember. How is Machida?" she asked curiously.

"Well, his body looks like it was put through a cheese grater, but he should recover physically, more or less. It's his mind that seems to have gone."

"You don't say," Haru said, smirking at her uncle and grandfather. "Is he likely to recover mentally?"

"It's too early to tell, but I doubt it. He's insisting that animals were talking to him, and the last one to make that claim around the von Gikkingen lands has been in the Sunset Rest Home for the past five years. My superior's making arrangements for your ex to be sent there as soon as he's physically strong enough." He hesitated. "I did as you suggested, with Detective Hino."

"And?" Haru prodded emotionlessly.

"Let's just say that both my superior and myself heartily approve of what happened to your ex-husband. I think the world would be a better place if every wife-beater got beaten against his car repeatedly and then flogged to within an inch of his life. You're very lucky, you know. The Baron doesn't take to people easily."

"Of course he does," she replied calmly, whittling a tail around the small wooden cat's body. "If the other tenants had just been respectful towards him, there never would have been a problem. But they weren't. Was there anything else?"

"No, Miss Haru. I just wanted to let you know that Machida Mishuzi will never bother you again, and feel free to call us, if you need more help than the Baron can give you."

"Thank you," she told him gratefully. "You have a good day, Mr. Jameson."

"You too, Miss Haru. May the Baron always watch over you."

She smiled while clicking her phone shut. "I have a feeling he will."

"What, Chicky?" Muta asked, his little eyes curious.

She giggled, and set back to her meticulous work. "When you three decide to scar someone for life, both physically and emotionally, you don't hold back. As soon as Machida's strong enough, the police are going to lock him into an insane asylum for the rest of his life."

"Good!" Toto said hotly. "I'm still put out that I didn't get to peck out his brains."

"I doubt you would have found them, anyway," Haru laughed, accidentally nicking one finger with her new knife. She absently pressed a white handkerchief against it, and waited for the blood flow to ebb. She didn't want to stain even the practice wood with her blood.

The small cat was half-finished, really just an exercise so that she could become comfortable with a feline shape before trying her hand on Baron's doll.

"Sweetie, I think now would be a good time to bring something important up," Toto said hesitantly.

"Yes?" his granddaughter asked easily.

He shifted around uncomfortably on his perch over her head. "I know you, and I know the blood that runs through you. Once you start on Baron's doll, you won't want to stop for anything."

She looked at him carefully, and set the small toy aside. "Go on, Papa Toto."

He sighed. "I know you want to work on Baron's doll as soon as possible, but you don't fully realize how brutal the winters can be up here. Before you get started, it'd be a good idea for you to put aside a few more months' worth of food and supplies. Believe me, it'll be easier to do it _before _you're up to your ankles in wood shavings, and the road to the village is too slick to drive through."

Haru looked at him with obvious reluctance, and then sighed and stroked his head with one hand. "All right. I'll do some heavy shopping today, and for as many days as it takes. Thanks for reminding me." She kissed his forehead, and swept up the wood shavings into the usual bucket before leaving the room to grab her keys and purse.

Muta started growling in irritation. "At this rate, she'll _never _get to carving Baron's doll!"

"Shove it, pork-chop," Toto said absently, preening one of his feathers thoughtfully. "Unless you'd rather eat a steady diet of snow and cold mice through yet another winter."

The large white cat shuddered. "Those were terrible winters. I thought for sure that we'd die, so many times."

"At least _you _could pick stuff out of the garbage," the crow reminded him. "People would just chase me away or break out a gun. If it weren't for Haru, I'd have forgotten completely what civilized food tasted like." Toto smiled warmly, tears of gratitude threatening to stream from his eyes. "But it's almost over. Just a few more months, and Haru will set everything right again."

"Hey," Muta said suddenly, realizing something critical. "Who'll get the house?"

"What?" Toto asked curiously.

"Well, it belongs to Baron by right and birth, but I saw just how much Haru paid for this place, and it was a very pretty penny. You don't think he'll evict her after he's brought back, do you?"

"Of course not," the crow snapped. "Baron already knows _exactly _how he'll handle that little detail."

"Oh yeah? And what's that, Bird Brain?" Muta taunted.

The dark bird stared at his old friend in shock. "You mean… you haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?" the feline asked crossly.

"Isn't it _obvious_?! Baron's done everything short of write it all over the walls in red paint!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" the white cat protested angrily. "What is it I'm missing?!"

"Coming, Papa Toto?" Haru called from down the hall, the front door creaking open wide to wait for him.

The large crow smirked evilly at his friend, and flew out of the sitting room. "Forget it, fat boy; I've changed my mind. I'd sooner die than spoil the surprise for you _or_ Haru."


	18. Making a Masterpiece

**Chapter Eighteen: Making a Masterpiece**

Haru grunted a bit, as she grabbed huge cans of vegetables and set them into the cart with some difficulty a few days after Toto's firm suggestion of building a winter food storage.

"Did you need some help, ma'am?"

The slim woman turned to see one of the grocery store's taller employees, his nametag declaring him a 'Peter'.

The young redhead grinned at her slight wince. "Don't worry, ma'am. I know you're too old for me. Besides, I have a girlfriend."

Obviously, the little exchange with Billy the few months before had become general knowledge, which was why all the employees usually avoided her like the plague while struggling not to erupt into laughter again.

She relaxed. "Oh good, I hate embarrassing people. Would you mind getting that large jug of molasses up there?"

"Sure thing." He reached up with ease, and grabbed the brown jug. "I take it you're stocking up for the winter?"

"That's right," she confirmed, setting the offered jug into her cart. "A friend of mine strongly suggested that now would be better than later."

"He wasn't joking. Sometimes, we get snow weeks from school instead of snow days. Hey, that cart won't hold much. Would you like me to go get something a little bigger for you?"

"I don't think I can push one of those," Haru said apprehensively, watching a middle aged pair go by with a low cart that was as big as a door. It had at least eight children dancing and yelling at each other around it while retrieving things that their parents asked for.

Her heart ached, wishing that she could have that kind of happy chaos in her life. She loved Toto and Muta dearly, and often felt like a mother when they began another pointless fight, but it just wasn't the same as having children of her own. She sighed, and tried to forget about the void in her life that could never be filled.

"Then I'll push it for you. I'm only here to serve, after all," Peter said with an infectious laugh.

She nodded gratefully, making the boy run for the front doors to grab one of the bigger carts. The slim woman leaned against her little cart patiently, a half smile on her lips.

"Um, Haru?" a timid voice asked from the end of the aisle.

The brunette looked over casually, and smiled. "Hello, Rachel. It's been a while."

The young teenager nodded, looking at her feet as she slowly moved forward with a small basket in one hand filled with cake supplies. "I'm… sorry about the other day. I didn't know that guy was going to try to kill you."

"You know about that?" Haru asked with surprise.

"It was in the newspaper yesterday. Believe me, I never would have-"

Haru cut her off with a warm hug, though wondering why the newspaper hadn't tried to contact her for the story. That was just unprofessional, to not contact the witnesses.

Then again… maybe they were scared of invoking Baron's wrath. Yeah, anyone would be scared to approach a house that has a ghost with a whip in it, and only a handful of people knew her cell phone number.

"It's not your fault, Rachel. It's mine. I never told anyone in town that I was hiding from an abusive alcoholic ex-husband, so how were you supposed to know that I didn't want to be found? There's nothing to forgive, and Baron was able to intervene on my behalf, so don't worry about it."

"_Thank you_," Rachel said with relief, hugging her back. "I was so scared that you'd hate me for telling him where you were."

"No, I'm just glad you told me that you told him. If you hadn't, I'd have stopped by Herb Heaven on the way home, and Machida would have followed me. He isn't squeamish about killing people that can squeal on him, so you probably saved your life and your mother's as well as mine. Think about that before you start feeling _too _guilty, and remember that I _did _have Baron to help me out with Machida. Everything's fine, and there's no need for any grudges."

"Here's the cart. Oh, hey Rachel," Peter said with a grin as he towed the large cart with one hand.

The blonde teenager wiped away her tears and lunged for the boy, rubbing her cheek against his orange store vest happily. "Hi Pete. Isn't today great?"

"You sure brightened mine," he laughed, wrapping both of his arms warmly around her, blushing slightly as he looked up at the smirking brunette. "My girlfriend," he explained with a loopy grin.

"Good choice," Haru approved, once again commanding her own heart to be still. "Oh, Rachel?"

"Yeah?" the girl asked, turning to look at her.

"As long as we're on the subject, I might as well warn you. My ex-husband isn't the only one I was hiding from. Anybody that claims to be a friend of my 'father's' is _not _a friend of mine."

Her blue eyes became steely with determination. "I understand, Haru."

"Haru?" the boy asked incredulously, staring at the brunette in a completely different way. "The one that fixes Drosselmeyer clocks?"

"Guilty as charged," she replied blandly, holding her wrists out to him. "So, do I have the right to remain silent?"

Both of the teenagers burst into hopeless laughter, neatly smoothing over any remaining guilt Rachel might have had.

"Drat," Peter said while wiping away tears of mirth. "If I had known that _you _were the famous Miss Haru, I'd have brought my dad's heirloom pocket watch and asked you to fix it for his birthday."

"I'll probably be back tomorrow, and the day after," the brunette offered. "If you bring it tomorrow, I can take it home, fix it, and bring it back the next day. Do you have that kind of time before his birthday?"

"Sure," he laughed. "The hard part will just be stealing the watch and keeping a straight face when he tears the house apart trying to find it until then. He loves that thing. It's been in the family since his grandfather's time."

"So, what kind of problem does it have? Does it just refuse to tick?" Haru asked curiously.

"Yeah, that's it. He's had that thing looked at by all sorts of professionals that can't do anything with it, but you seem to have a knack for Drosselmeyer work, so…" he trailed off suggestively.

"I should have thought of asking you to fix his watch sooner," Rachel said glumly. "I mean, I keep telling myself to bring it up, but then I forget when I see you again, Haru."

"Don't worry about it," the dark woman assured the blonde teenager with a sad smile. "There are much bigger things that need to be fixed in this world than Drosselmeyer clocks."

ooOoo

It took Haru two and a half weeks to store up enough supplies to Toto's satisfaction. She looked around her stuffed storeroom with satisfaction, as well as the large equally stuffed icebox that Baron had helped her install the week before. Food wouldn't be an issue for several months.

"Feel better, Papa Toto?" she asked the large crow perched on her shoulder.

He nodded happily. "Much better. All right; go ahead and play now."

"Thank you," she nearly squealed in excitement, closing the storeroom door so that she could run out of the kitchen and back to the sitting room, where Baron had been holding her wood and tools captive. Although she couldn't hear him, Haru could have sworn that the unseen lord was laughing at her, as he fetched her woodworking supplies from the high shelf he had set them on, just to keep them safe while she took care of the winter supplies.

With slightly shaking hands, Haru held the long piece of wood, looking from it to the large portrait over the marble fireplace. Biting her lip nervously, she took out a pencil, and carefully put unevenly spaced marks along one of the sides of the butternut wood.

"What's that for?" Muta asked curiously, looking up from his nap on the nearby couch.

"That's so she knows where to start and end Baron's limbs," Toto responded airily, grinning around his beak as his great-granddaughter began to carefully shave off the unnecessary corners of the piece.

"Was Grandma right about Christmas Eve being an excellent night for magic?" Haru asked curiously, narrowing her eyes in concentration.

"That's always been the best night for it," the crow responded automatically, preening his feathers. "For some reason or other, all magic is amplified on that night, which is probably why Adrian waited until then to curse us."

"I sure hope I can have this done by then," she muttered, carving away for all she was worth.

"You've got three months to do it, Chicky. That should be plenty of time, unless you're going to try movable limbs or some fancy little extra," the white cat yawned tiredly, turning around in his place on the couch so that he could watch her carve Baron's special doll.

"That's not needed," the slim girl said softly, her eyes lost in a haze as the meticulous work claimed her for its own. "Baron will be able to move on his own anyway, and it's a little late to think about extras. If you two get into a fight, would you please go to another room?"

"Of course, sweetie," Toto soothed her, leaning in with eager eyes as the wood chips began to fall gracefully to the floor.

Before her regularly enforced curfew, Haru was able to shape the wood a little closer to that of a human, with the edges still very much in evidence.

The next few days were devoted to refining the shape into Haru's mental vision of the doll. But after that was the part that absorbed the next few months of her life.

The details.

Like there was nothing more important, Haru slowly made Baron's large cat ears curve slightly to the front of his head, careful not to chip the perfectly straight top hat balanced neatly on the slowly emerging cat's head.

"You know," Muta drawled from his place on the couch. "This wouldn't take as long if you left out that silly hat."

"But I _like _the silk hat," Haru protested, holding the doll even closer to her face so that she wouldn't miss a critical cut. "It suits him so well. Besides, the details are what make up the big picture. You're a composer, you understand that."

He nodded mournfully. "You know, whenever you offered me the peanut butter threat, it wasn't really the peanut butter that I hated. I actually like peanut butter, but this cat's mouth is the wrong shape for it."

"Oh?" she asked distractedly, moving slowly down the head to shape the muzzle. "Then what was it you hated?"

"The part where you threatened not to play the piano for me for a solid month. And that's what's happening right now." He meowed pityingly.

"Look at the bright side," she offered, still shaving miniscule bits of wood from her doll. "The sooner Baron's doll is finished, the sooner you can go back to playing the piano yourself, and writing music again."

"But I _like _hearing you play," he protested. "Not too many people can play with your sense of rhythm."

"Then let's play the piano together when this job's finished. I know _I'd _like that," Haru offered in way of retribution, brushing a handful of her shoulder-length hair behind her back so that it wouldn't bother her.

"You promise?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, but you need to stop pouting. You're a grown up, for crying out loud."

"That never stopped me before," he said impudently, making the brunette laugh and accidentally cut her thumb again.

Her fingers were now constantly covered with small cuts and slivers, despite the green goop Baron regularly anointed her hands with after he took away her 'toys' every night.

But Haru didn't care. She was finally a toymaker, a true Drosselmeyer, and most importantly…

Baron's loyal friend. If she could do this one thing for him, and help him break the spell, then maybe it'd be a start to paying the tremendous debt she owed him. Her heart began to dance in her chest, thinking about what it would be like, to have a _real _conversation with her dear, patient companion.

Idly, she wondered what he'd have to say, after he was done thanking her. She shook her head, laughed at herself, and kept carving while alternately staring at Baron's portrait, to be sure that she'd be getting his body measurements right.

On a whim, she shaped Baron's left arm to fold to his back with his hand clenched, and the right one to curve in front of his chest. Although it was a pain in the neck, she stubbornly shaped a simple curved cane into his right hand, to rest diagonally on his well-built chest. The tail was also a bit of a problem, since it was an independent piece instead of cheatingly carved onto the back of one of his legs, but Haru managed to do it in the end, although it cost her a full week to avoid damaging the tail while carving it between the tails of his suit coat.

His outfit was the same as the portrait, although colorless for now. He was in an old-fashioned suit that would match the silk hat, complete with a vest and bow tie. The shoes weren't as difficult as the bowtie, and they were a great deal easier than the subtle carving it had taken to suggest that the feline lord was wearing a pair of delicate gloves. The finger details nearly drove her insane, which was why she had decided on gloves fairly early in the process.

Watching each careful cut from the seat opposite her and the fireplace was the invisible Baron, a content smile on his lips as he routinely took her 'toys' away so that she wouldn't forget to eat during the day and go to sleep at night.

It was the middle of December by the time she had finished carefully sanding off her creation to remove any remaining rough spots on the doll.


	19. Finishing Touches

**Chapter Nineteen: Finishing Touches**

"Making your own paint can always be a little tricky, which is why I wrote that book," Toto instructed from his perch on the back of a chair that had been dragged close to the stove so that he could advise Haru, who was currently frowning into a large pot filled halfway with a thin milk-colored liquid.

Muta was still sleeping in one of the bedrooms, so there was no bickering to interfere with her concentration this time.

"Once you make a certain color of paint, it's nearly impossible to make that exact shade again, so it's usually a good idea to make more paint than you think you need, just in case," Toto added as the milky paint in progress began to bubble over.

"Okay, the book says once it begins to boil, I need to take it off the heat," she muttered to herself, carefully easing the pot to the side of the heated burner.

"Next comes the fun part," Toto said eagerly, eyeing the nine medium-sized bowls with spoons in them lined up along the side of the stove, each containing some sort of natural plant life that she had collected the day before, and then chopped finely to allow their color to leak out as much as possible.

"Now use the ladle to quickly pour about two cups' worth into each bowl, and mix quickly to set the color into the paint," the crow instructed.

She quickly but carefully poured her mixture into the bowls, one at a time. Setting the large pot aside, she began stirring them with Baron's obvious help, almost pounding the color into the milky mixture that slowly took on the color of the plants.

The one holding a heaping pile of dry golden onion skins began to change to a light orange color while the one with oak bark darkened to a lovely brown. Blueberries with a single mulberry turned into a lovely dark shade of blue while the chokecherries and beet changed their bit of paint to a dark regal red. A single iris root changed its bit of paint to a light grey, while the one with a few more roots was changed to a slightly darker grey, and sumac leaves provided a nice black. A spot of a specific type of tea made an ecru paint, and a large handful of fresh peach leaves produced a lovely light green. The paint was originally white, so she didn't have to worry about that color.

"Sure hope I didn't forget any colors," Haru said worriedly, carefully straining each of the bowls one by one to remove the plants floating in the newly colored paint before sealing them into glass jars.

"If you did, we'll work around it," Toto assured her, although he seriously doubted that she had forgotten anything. Suddenly, he grinned mischievously. "Hey, want to try something new?"

"What?" Haru asked, wiping her brow free from sweat.

"Add a splash of non-colored liquid detergent to the green and mix it in. That way, when the paint dries on the doll, the eyes will shine with the light like they're really glass marbles."

The brunette stared at the crow, and suddenly wrapped her arms around him, careful not to knock him off the chair. "You are _awesome_, Papa Toto. I never would have thought of that!"

"One tries," he whispered, wrapping his wings around her head. "You're a good girl, Haru. Why don't you take the rest of today off?"

"But I _can't_," she protested, gathering four of the glass jars to bring them to the sitting room. "There's only eight days left till Christmas Eve, and I want the doll to be done before then."

"You've been working on the doll for almost three months! Come on, take the rest of today off. You earned it."

"But-" Haru tried to protest, holding the jars close to her front as Baron eased them out of her arms carefully and set them on top of the tall cupboard with the other paints, far from where she would be able to reach them.

The slim brunette pouted sadly at the crow. "Just how am I supposed to win an argument with someone like Baron?" she asked tiredly.

"You don't," Toto said blandly. "I've known Baron since we were children, and I never did manage to win an argument with him, and neither did the fatso. Look on the bright side, sweetie. When Baron decides to make an issue of his opinion, he's not just thinking about himself. He cares about your health just as much as I do, so please relax today, even if it's just for us."

Haru sighed, and put her hands up in defeat. "Bullies," she muttered half-heartedly, only to feel Baron's cool hand pat her shoulder comfortingly before gently pushing her out of the kitchen.

She sighed again, and began wandering around the manor. _'Should I take a nap? No, it's a little early for that. A book, maybe? Nah, I doubt I'd be able to focus on the plot.' _She smiled slightly, and quickly walked to the stairs, up both flights to the third floor, and past Baron's quarters in order to step into the music room.

'_Few things can soothe a soul like a good song.' _She settled herself comfortably onto the piano bench, and opened the front of the instrument to reveal the ivory and ebony keys. Staring at them, she held one hand to her chin thoughtfully. "What is it that _I _want to play?" she asked herself, since she had been allowing Muta to pick every piece since she fixed the piano.

Not thinking of any tune in particular, she just placed her hands on the keys, and allowed them to wander into an unplanned melody that vaguely reminded her of when she was a child, and still so full of hope.

No, she wasn't going to be sad anymore. Her jaw tightened slightly, and tried to think of something else. As her fingers lightly tapped the keys, she thought about what would happen, after her family and friend were returned to normal.

But… all she could draw was a big blank. She had no idea what Christmas Day would bring. How would Baron manage to convince everyone that he really was a von Gikkingen? Would they come clean about the decades of terror, and would anyone believe them?

Would she be allowed to stay in the manor? It was _her _home, too, but would it be appropriate for her to stay?

"Now I'm just being ridiculous," she muttered to herself, trying to order the melody to become more upbeat. "Everything will be just fine. Whatever happens after the spell breaks will happen, and there's no point in worrying about it before then." Haru smiled, and began a soft crooning song contentedly. "I wouldn't be all that shocked if Baron already figured out how to handle those problems."

A random key that she hadn't touched suddenly pressed down twice, in time with the music.

She giggled, and shifted to the right side of the bench to start playing a higher scale of the random song. "You _do _already know what you're going to do after you're back to normal, don't you, Baron?"

He reached out to nod her head with one hand before the keys to the left of her started playing an accompaniment in a lower key.

She laughed at herself, immediately feeling better as the song automatically became more cheerful. "I don't know why I still worry when you're around. You'd think I'd learn by now."

Haru felt something along her cheek again, but she was certain that it wasn't his hand this time. It was more like he was softly brushing cheeks with her. She blushed light pink, and kept her eyes on the keys as a shy smile crossed her lips.

She wasn't quite sure how long she and Baron played together, but when it was finally time to stop, she felt that it was far too soon.

ooOoo

Snow was falling outside the window, but no one was paying attention to it. All attention was fixed on the small paintbrush that dipped into the glass jar, and then brushed carefully across the sanded butternut wood.

The first thing Haru had painted was the Baron's light grey suit, going into exquisite detail on the buttons of his vest and the subtle difference between the pressed white shirt and the light grey of the suit jacket. With the utmost care, she painted a thin strip of orange between his gloves and sleeves to suggest that the doll had furry wrists. Like nothing was more important, the slim brunette kept painting the hat, the shoes, and finally the tail and face, blissfully ignorant of the frequent blizzards that raged outside.

Haru saved his eyes for the last, lingeringly tracing the beautiful yellow green onto the blank slits in the face, and then held the doll away from her for a second. "I'll have to wait until that dries to paint in the pupils. So, what do you guys think?" she asked, turning the doll so that it faced the cat and crow.

"Not bad," Muta said gruffly, looking the doll up and down.

Toto pecked at his fur sharply. "Is that all you can think to say?! After all the effort she put into it?! It's wonderful!"

"A doll's a doll to me, you know that!" the fat cat retorted sharply, staring at the toy in the woman's hand. "Still… I think something's missing."

"Like what?" Haru asked curiously, turning the doll so that it was facing her. Its carefully shaped muzzle had a gentle smile on it, and the wet paint in the eyes made it sparkle almost magically. Absently, she held up the doll so that it was level with Muta, at least in her line of vision.

"Come on," Toto scoffed. "She's thought of everything. What could possibly be missing?"

"Whiskers," Haru suddenly said, snapping her fingers. "I completely forgot about the whiskers!"

"Well, finding some shouldn't be _too _hard to find," the crow said slyly, pointedly looking at the corpulent cat, who stiffened in horror and covered his muzzle with both hands.

"Not happening! You're not taking my whiskers!" he cried out, burying his face deep underneath the cushions of the couch.

Haru giggled, set the doll on the table next to her so that she could take the three steps to the couch, and start scratching his fur comfortingly. "I'd only need about an inch, Muta. Besides, if everything goes to plan, you won't have them in twenty-four hours anyway."

"Tomorrow's Christmas, too," Toto drawled, winking at his great-granddaughter. "I bet we'll really be in a partying mood. We might just be able to convince Haru to make a _huge _angel food cake to celebrate the end of the curse."

"With vanilla ice cream," Haru added, winking back at the crow as the cat suddenly froze, and slowly eased his way out of the cushions again.

"With your homemade mulberry syrup?" he asked hopefully.

"Absolutely."

He purred, and started rubbing against her arm lovingly. "All right. Take my whiskers."

Haru straightened, and made to grab one of her carving knifes, but then stopped. "I don't have the right glue to set the whiskers on. I'll have to go to town."

"We're nearly out of milk," Muta added as she got out her familiar notepad, and wrote down the two items.

"And eggs, the ice cream… we've been running low on thyme and sage, too. I think a ham would be just fine for tomorrow night, don't you?"

"Why not a turkey?" Muta suggested, making the girl wince.

"Reason number one," she replied in a flat voice, pointing to the feathered one, who was sitting next to her uncle. "I doubt Papa Toto will be in the mood to eat a bird for a _very _long time."

"If ever," the crow added, glaring at his furry companion. "We'd better hurry, if we don't want to come home in the dark, sweetie."

Haru nodded, and ran for her thick winter coat, hat, and gloves. With Toto perched on her shoulder, she made her way out of the house, across the neatly shoveled courtyard (courtesy of Baron) to the garage, and was soon carefully making her way down the mountain.

She smiled in contentment, a spring of excitement welling up inside of her. _'It's nearly over. After tonight, everything will change. This is going to be the best Christmas ever.'_


	20. The REscue

**Chapter Twenty: The Rescue**

"Come on, Haru; it's Christmas Eve," Rachel pleaded with her as the brunette grabbed a few more jars off of the shelves. "I just can't stand the thought of you spending Christmas by yourself."

"I won't," Haru promised before hugging the girl and making her way to the front counter. "Some friends from Japan are coming by for the holidays. They act like a pair of children, but I love them anyway."

"Well, you're still welcome at our house, if you want to come," the older blonde said in a soft voice, bagging the brunette's choices and ringing up the total.

"Thank you. I really do appreciate that you two care about me, but I'll be okay." She grinned, and hugged Rachel's mother over the counter and then Rachel before signing the check. "I've been looking forward to this Christmas for a few months now. I've got some big plans for my friends, and I don't want to disappoint them."

The older blonde scoffed and patted the brunette's shoulder affectionately. "I doubt you could disappoint anyone if you _tried_."

Haru's hand flinched noticeably, as she handed Mrs. Smith the check, and she sighed sadly. "You'd be surprised how disappointing some have found me to be. But then again, they were very disappointing themselves, so I try not to worry about it. They don't matter anymore."

"Hey, you okay?" Rachel asked softly.

The slim woman nodded, and smiled again while grabbing her bags. "Of course. Like I said, the ones who found me disappointing don't matter. Could you please open the door for me? I don't want to keep the other two waiting."

"Sure thing," Rachel said, crossing the store in record speed to open the swinging door. "So, they're just friends?" she asked slyly.

"Cousins," Haru said blandly, easing herself out of the door. "One of them treats me like I'm his little girl, and the other wants to handcuff me to the piano. They fight like no one's business."

"Aren't you worried about… the Baron?"

"What about him?" Haru asked, standing in the doorway for an extra second.

"You know. I mean… you're the only one he's allowed to live in the manor since Johnny passed away. What if the Baron decides that he doesn't like your cousins?"

"I don't think that's going to be a prob-" Haru suddenly cut off, staring at the road with horrified eyes. She shoved her bags into a startled Rachel's arms, and ran straight for the street as the crow perched on the back of her truck cawed in terror.

But Haru didn't hear Rachel or Toto scream. All she could hear was the panicked screech of tires as she reached out with both arms to grab the large cat that had been limping tiredly across the street, but had fallen, exhausted, right into the path of an oncoming truck.

She swept the cat into her arms as it yowled in surprise, and made a final jump powerful enough to launch them out of the truck's path, and into an inviting snow bank on the other side of the road.

"_Haru_!" Rachel screamed as the brunette reluctantly opened her eyes, and giggled tiredly.

"Hey, what do you know? We're alive." She sat up in the snow bank, and looked at the cat she had just saved.

She hated to admit it, but the cat was ugly. His long fur was lovely, almost lavender grey, but the face was one only a mother could love. His whiskers were practically a large white mustache, and the face only took up a small fraction of the cat's head. There was even a gaudy purple gem between his eyes that almost seemed to have the shadow of a third eye in it.

"Creepy," she muttered under her breath as the cat slowly opened his large mismatched eyes of fire and ice to look at her.

His jaw dropped. "_Meow_," he said appreciatively.

She grimaced slightly, and set him down on the sidewalk, although he mewed almost commandingly at her to pick him up again. "You know, it wasn't the best idea to go out into a street if you're not strong enough to avoid a truck. This world can be a very dangerous place."

"Haru!" Mrs. Smith screeched, throwing herself against the brunette and knocking both of them into the snow. "What were you thinking?! You could have gotten yourself killed!" She kissed the girl's dark hair happily, and held her close like a disobedient, but beloved child.

"I knew what I was doing!" she protested, bracing herself for the impact of the oncoming Rachel as she gripped Haru's other side, the bags of herbs set on the sidewalk for now.

"That was the stupidest, bravest thing I've ever seen! Don't ever do it again!" the younger blonde commanded as tears of relief threatened to freeze in her long eyelashes and soft cheeks.

Looking at the two blondes, Haru realized that neither of them were wearing coats. "Hey, you two need to get back inside the shop before you freeze! I'm all right, and so is the cat."

Mrs. Smith looked at the perplexed cat, and shook her head mournfully. "A _cat_, Haru? You were willing to throw your life away for an old tomcat?"

"I knew what I was doing," Haru insisted. "I knew that I could get the cat if I beat the truck, which was going thirty-five miles an hour from half a block away while I was going maybe twenty from twenty five feet away-"

"Haru, you sound like a math problem," Rachel complained, nearly choking the brunette with her embrace.

"That's all it was, an equation. As long as you understand the statistics of who's going to reach the destination first, you can arrive at the solution. I knew I could get the cat without a scratch." With difficulty, she struggled to her feet, helped the shivering women to their feet, and scratched the ugly cat's ears before grabbing her bags of herbs. "And I'd appreciate it, if _you _stayed off of the streets until you can cross them safely. I may not be around to save you next time. Happy Christmas," she told the cat before crossing the street safely with the shivering blondes, and escorting them back into their family shop before loading her bags into her truck, pointedly avoiding the gaze of a _very _angry crow until she could step inside her vehicle, and head for home.

All the while, the large old longhair watched her every move, a greasy smile on his muzzled mouth.

"Happy Christmas… indeed," he purred.

ooOoo

"Haru, what were you thinking?!" Toto yelled at her as she stepped out of her truck, and gathered all the bags with difficulty.

"Mrs. Smith already asked that. I knew what I was doing!" she yelled back at him, marching out of the garage and across the darkening courtyard to the front door of the manor house in a vain attempt to leave the crow behind her.

"You know better than to run out into the street like that! You could have _died_, Haru!" Toto choked out painfully.

"No I couldn't have-" Haru retorted as she stepped through the front door, but then stopped short as Baron's hands firmly grabbed her by the shoulders, and the bags taken from her arms and floated down the hall to the kitchen. The door closed behind the crow, but the brunette was held firmly in place, a slight shaking speaking louder than words that Baron _really _wanted to know what they were talking about.

"Nice one, Papa Toto," she mumbled angrily, figuring that her unseen friend wouldn't have found out if the crow hadn't raised such a fuss over the incident.

"What are you talking about?! _You're _the one that jumped in front of a truck to save an ugly old cat!" her great-grandfather retorted angrily.

Baron's cool hands stiffened in horror, and then very firmly picked her up so that he could levitate her to the sitting room.

"Why do I have the feeling I'm about to get grounded?" Haru asked blandly as she was set rather firmly on the couch. Looking up, she suddenly noticed that while she was out with Toto, a rather large evergreen tree had been cut down and brought into the sitting room to rest to the right of the marble mantelpiece, and there were two large and dusty boxes, possibly filled with decorations for the tree.

One of Baron's cool fingers tapped repeatedly against her lips, making her bite her lower one nervously. "It was a simple equation," she said stubbornly. "I knew I could get to the cat before the truck did, and I didn't see a point to sitting back and watching him die when I could do something about it." She sighed. "Come on, Baron. If you want me to hear you scold me, I'll need that glue you just took from me so I can finish the doll."

Reluctantly, the small bottle floated through the still-open door and landed in her hand.

"Thank you," she said politely, taking the toy into her hands so that she could use a needle-like tool to drill miniscule holes on each side of the feline muzzle.

"Haru did _what_?!" Muta yowled, falling off of the couch in mid-nap as Toto finished whispering to him what had happened outside of the herb store.

"Honestly, I think you three are taking this too seriously," she snapped at the cat and the crow. "I knew I could make it to the cat first, so I did. End of story. What's with the tree?" she asked curiously, switching the doll around so that she could drill the left side of the muzzle.

"It's _Christmas Eve_, Haru. What's Christmas without a tree?" Muta growled in an obvious manner. "While you were out trying to become road kill, Baron went out and picked a tree. It's the first one we've had since old Johnny passed away."

She looked up at the impressive evergreen, and smiled peacefully. It wasn't as big as what she had grown used to, but it should be more than enough for the four of them. "Could you come here, Muta? I need your whiskers," she added, snipping a small pair of scissors in the air.

The fat cat shuddered, but hopped up onto her lap without a fight.

Very carefully, she snipped an inch of his whiskers on both sides of his face. "There. You're already done."

He hopped off of her lap, and nearly landed on his face, much to the delight of the crow that began laughing his head off.

"Yeah, laugh while you still can," Muta muttered, rubbing his side tenderly before waddling to the table where the dusty boxes had been patiently waiting. "Once we're back to normal, I'm gonna punch your lights out. Finish up, Haru. Baron won't let us start decorating the tree until you can help."

"How do you know that?" she asked absently, squeezing the small bottle just enough for a bead of glue to peak through the top so she could dip one end of a whisker into it, and then swiftly set the hair into one of the holes in the muzzle she had just drilled into the doll.

"Family tradition," Toto explained, preening his feathers out of habit. "Everyone helps with the tree, no exceptions. Take your time, Haru. The tree can wait."

"No, we need to start _soon_," Muta begged. "It's my favorite part!"

"Exercise some restraint, will ya, you fatso?!"

"Fatso?! Come down here and say that, you big chicken!"

"Can't you tell the difference between a chicken and a crow?!"

"Sure I can, I'm not the bird brain here!"

"You already called me a bird brain, you idiot!"

Haru sighed tiredly, and ignored the two as they began fighting once again, Baron removing them to the far end of the room so that they wouldn't upset her concentration.

Once all the whiskers were securely in place, the slim brunette opened the jar of black paint for the last time, and dipped her miniscule brush into the inky darkness. The first thing she did was lightly touch the brush to the Baron's small triangular nose. Then, she carefully painted black pupils into the shining green eyes that seemed to stare straight into her soul.

"It's finished," she whispered, looking at her creation with delight. "It's finally finished."

Baron gently removed the doll from her hands, and set it on the mantle next to the polished wooden swan so that the paint and glue could safely dry.

She smiled happily, and stretched before capping her paint jar and setting the small paintbrush into a small cup of water. She'd bring life to the doll after it finished drying.

"Well, guys? Are we going to decorate this tree or what?"


	21. The Baron

**Chapter Twenty One: The Baron**

"A little higher!" Muta yelled as he carefully sorted through the ornaments in the box. "You'll run out of that thing before you reach the top!"

"Will not," Toto snapped as he circled in the air gracefully, trailing a long red beaded garland slowly up the tall tree.

"It's just enough, there's no need to fuss, Muta," Haru said in her usual soft voice as she tenderly took the ornaments out of the box, one by one. "Did you make these, Papa Toto?"

"Just ten of them," the crow admitted. "I had most of the ornaments I made at my home, but they were auctioned off after we were cursed. I usually tried to make at least one for each of us every Christmas."

"Well, it's a little late to do one for this year," the cat grumbled as he carefully put one of the wooden ornaments in his mouth, hopped off the table, and waddled over to the tree so he could set the carefully painted nutcracker on one of the lower limbs.

To spare the heirlooms from traveling inside her uncle's mouth, she set the box next to the cat on the floor before passing a delicate sugar plum fairy to her great-grandfather, and helping to decorate the tree.

Baron lifted a few ornaments from the other box, and started helping with the tree. Very lightly, Haru could feel his cool presence brush her side or touch her shoulder, like he was balancing himself on her as he reached for the higher branches of the tree, despite the fact that the last thing he's had to worry about for decades was keeping his balance. She blushed slightly as he squeezed her shoulder softly, affectionately, before handing yet another ornament to the crow circling the tree so that he wouldn't have to land before the tree was finished.

Baron fished several small candle holders, complete with real wax candles, out of the last box, and made them float around the tree before clipping themselves to various branches.

"All right, Chicky. The finishing touch," Muta said while pulling out a large but somehow modest golden star. He handed it to her, and she made to give it to the crow, who shook his head and landed on the back of a chair.

"Sorry, family tradition. The youngest one of the house always gets to put the star on the tree," Toto explained.

"Oh." Haru looked up at the tall tree, and bit her lip. "Could… you help me, Baron?" she asked, since she wouldn't be able to reach the tree top, even if she stood on a chair.

Very gently, a pair of cool hands took her by the waist, and lifted her into the air, close to the top of the tree. With firm hands, she secured the star until it was on the top branch, pointing directly up.

As soon as she was certain that the star was in place, Baron gently set her on the ground, touching her cheek tenderly again.

"So, now what?" Haru asked curiously, looking out the dark window to the swirling snowflakes outside. "Should I make dinner, or is there another tradition I don't know about?"

"Why don't you go ahead and put Baron's soul into the doll?" Toto suggested. "The paint and glue are probably dry by now, and he's been very patient."

"Good idea," she agreed, holding her hand out for the figurine that floated off of the mantle and towards her. She braced the doll firmly between her hands. "Baron? I'm pretty sure that this will require your effort as well. You know what to do?"

He nodded her head, and nudged her back softly, silently telling her to get on with it.

"Come _on_, Chicky! Just bring Baron back!" Muta snapped.

"Here it goes," she whispered to herself, drawing in the serenity that seemed to be the source of her subtle and almost completely untrained magic.

She took in a deep lingering breath as the power swelled inside her, amplified by the magic of the special night.

Slowly, she released her silver mist-like breath in a small whistle, directly into the cat doll's face as its glossy green eyes flashed with power.

Haru kept letting her silvery breath out over the doll, wanting more than anything to make sure that Baron's soul would attach to the figurine she had labored over for months.

The silver mist ran over and through the doll as it slowly but surely absorbed her magic.

After her breath ran out, she and the other two stared at the softly glowing doll with breathless anticipation. The remaining strings of power slipped through the cat head's mouth, and the green eyes glowed magically.

Then, the doll began to _move_. The miniscule fingers gripping the cane began to flex of their own accord, and the legs shifted out of their stiff position. Both arms raised high over his head as he blinked his slanted eyes, and took in a long, satisfying breath of his own.

"Ah… oh!" a deep tenor voice purred from that carefully crafted mouth as he looked at the slim brunette that had just given him life. "This feels _wonderful_."

"Baron?" Muta asked softly, staring at the moving doll like he was too scared to believe it was true.

"Hello, Renaldo," the cat doll sighed, gazing at the girl holding him almost worshipfully. "Toto. Haru." He smiled warmly at the slim woman, making her blush slightly.

"Hello, Baron," she said shyly, setting him gently on the table in case he wanted down.

The look on his face said otherwise, but there simply wasn't a graceful way to ask her to pick him up again. He laughed a little bit as he gazed at her. "Do you have _any _idea, how good it feels to have you actually _look _at me? And hear me?"

"I bet it's a relief," Haru giggled, gazing into those painted eyes. "Um, would you like anything?"

"A cup of tea would be lovely," he said earnestly, making the girl nod and nearly run out of the room for his request.

Muta laughed gruffly. "You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

"You would be surprised, my friend," the figurine sighed, walking to the edge of the table so that he could sit with his legs hanging off of the side. "After all, look at me. At _us_."

"I know what you mean," Toto laughed. "So, now that you've managed to get Haru out of the room, how can we break the spell?"

"_We _can't," Baron corrected, his glowing green eyes trailing to the open door that the brunette had exited through. "Haru can, though. That is, if I can persuade her to do it."

"Like that'll be hard," Muta scoffed. "She'd probably walk through fire if you asked her to."

"It's quite possible that she would prefer the fire," Baron said glumly, playing with his delicately carved cane worriedly with one hand. "What is required is very… awkward."

"How awkward?" Toto asked flatly.

Baron looked the crow straight in the eye, and told him how the curse could be broken.

Toto immediately fell off of the chair as Muta's mouth dropped to the floor.

"You want _Haru _to do that?!" the crow demanded.

"Unless you or Muta would rather do it," Baron said flatly, studying his shoes and gloved hands. "Personally, I'd rather have Haru do it, so that no one will become scarred for life."

"I still think she'd do it," the fat cat said stubbornly. "But… are you planning on… taking it a step further?" _'Was this what Bird Brain was talking about months ago, about missing something obvious?'_

"Within the realms of propriety," the cat doll said firmly, shifting his gaze to the crow. "You _know_ how I feel about her, Toto. Are there any objections you'd like to raise before I approach her on the subject?"

The dark bird shook his head, and flew back onto his perch. "If I did, I'd have voiced them by now. Just… treat her the way Machida should have."

"I have every intention of doing so," Baron said gratefully, bowing from his precarious seat to his old friend.

"Every intention of doing what?" Haru asked curiously as she stepped back into the room with something small cradled between two fingers.

The trio stiffened to the point of terror as she sat down on the couch next to the table, and offered Baron a metal thimble full of a dark brown liquid.

"Sorry, this was the best I could find," she said apologetically as he took the thimble from her carefully.

"This will be just fine, Haru," he purred before slowly sipping the warm beverage. He sighed happily, once the thimble was empty. "Oh, I missed that."

"Boiled grass addict," Muta grumbled under his breath.

"Be nice," the slim woman chided him before turning her attention to the cat doll again. "Now, what was it you had every intention of doing?" she asked curiously, making the living figurine jerk nervously.

"I have every intention of returning to my body before midnight," he said after a moment of thought. "Not that I don't appreciate _this _body," he quickly added, holding his arms out. "But…"

"I understand, Baron," she giggled. "So is there anything I can do to help?"

"… yes. There _is _a little thing you could do for me," the feline lord said hesitantly.

"Well, what is it?" she asked eagerly, leaning in slightly from her seat.

Baron opened his mouth a few times, trying to force the words past his lips, but they were stubbornly sticking in his throat like a bad jelly. He finally gave up with a sigh. "Perhaps we should adjourn to where my real body is? I'm afraid that the cure lies with it."

"All right," Haru said easily rising from her seat.

But before she could even lean down to pick the handcrafted doll up, the brass knocker on the front door of the manor began to pound.

"Now who could that be?" the brunette muttered to herself as she quickly stepped around the couch. But then just as suddenly, her feet were no longer pounding on the ground, because she was being levitated in the air by an invisible force.

"Don't answer the door," Baron said in a firm voice as he neatly set her back down on the couch. "This doesn't feel right."

"Did anyone tell you that they were coming over?" Toto inquired, looking down the hallway suspiciously as the knocker continued to pound.

"No, but I wouldn't be surprised if Rachel and her mother were dropping by for a few minutes, since they didn't want to leave me alone for the holidays. Except they're scared of this place," she whispered thoughtfully. "Everyone in town is terrified of the manor. Could it be a traveler seeking refuge from the snowstorm?"

"Except travelers wouldn't know that the manor's up here, and the village is a lot better suited to spending a night," Muta reminded her with a hiss. "I agree with Baron; this feels too much like the night we got cursed. Just ignore it."

"But what if-" Haru tried to say, but then became distracted as the sitting room was suddenly drenched in blue light.

She cried out, instinctively grabbing the doll she had labored over for months and holding him close while shielding her eyes with one arm. Baron gripped her wrist with his arms the best he could, a hostile hiss present in his voice.

After a second, Haru's eyes became adjusted to the light, and she lowered her arm.

She stared mutely, not believing her own eyes.

It was a… cat parade?! There were dual lines of cats standing on their hind feet, walking slowly with their front paws curled close to their small chests. They circled around the room as a few more cats came forward out of the big blue hole of light that had appeared next to the Christmas tree, bearing huge baskets of pink flower petals that were slowly strewn across the darkly stained wooden floor and tasteful carpets.

A two-wheeled golden carriage, drawn by two muscular cats with markings like tigers then appeared. And lazily lying across the carriage was none other than the large grey longhair she had saved from becoming road kill a mere few hours ago, now sporting a pair of engraved golden armbands as well as the jewel between his eyes. His carriage was closely followed by a band of feline musicians that were playing a minor key of a song she was unfamiliar with. The large cat she had saved was accompanied by two more servants, one that flanked him on either side of the carriage. One had spotted brown fur and a foolish grin on his face, while the other not only had a dusty shade of grey fur and a rather stern look on his face, but was also wearing a long purple kimono and holding a clipboard in one of his paws.

After a few more cats walked through the strange portal, it closed on its own, and the parade of cats stopped in their tracks, all eyes locked on the frozen brunette. Unnoticed, Toto and Muta were locked in their seats, ready to pounce, should the intruders prove to be violent.

The kimonoed cat coughed pointedly as he walked around the two wheeled carriage, brushing snowflakes off of his sleeves. "Please forgive the intrusion, Miss Haru. We would have waited outside, but his majesty was growing cold." He straightened up, his expression slightly exalting. "Allow me to present, our wise and incredibly magnificent ruler, the king of the Cat Kingdom, the Cat King!" he proclaimed grandly, gesturing to the ugly cat she had saved.

The large longhair opened his mismatched eyes lazily at his rescuer, and smiled greasily. "That's me, babe."


	22. The Proposal

**Chapter Twenty Two: The Proposal**

Haru couldn't really think of anything to say to that, as she unconsciously cradled Baron in one arm as he stayed perfectly still, to fool the intruders into thinking that he was an ordinary doll.

"He is most grateful for your intervention on his behalf this afternoon, and has returned to the Human Kingdom to express his gratitude in his own words," the darker grey cat continued, stepping aside slightly so that the fat monarch could be the center of the slim brunette's attention.

She looked at him warily, as he looked at her, and hummed deep in his throat for a second, like he was debating on what words to use.

"Mmm… thanks a lot, babe," he murmured.

'_Doesn't this guy have any clue how much __**that word**__ makes me want to light his fur on fire?' _she thought while putting on a stiff smile, and bowing slightly from her seat. "You're welcome, your majesty."

Suddenly, a rolled up piece of parchment was thrust at her face, getting her to lean back on the couch in surprise.

"Your reward," the brown cat holding up the scroll explained nasally.

"That's not necessary," Haru protested, waving one hand in a negative manner. "I didn't do it for a reward-"

"Go on, babe," the cat urged her in a slow lazy voice, although his bulging eyes were alight with something she couldn't and didn't want to understand.

"Don't take it," Baron managed to whisper softly to the slim brunette, strengthening her resolve.

"No thank you," Haru said firmly. "I don't need a reward, but thanks for the thought, your majesty. If you don't mind, I was doing something important when you came barging into my home," she said, hoping that he would take the hint and disappear again.

The Cat King slowly stood up from his small carriage, unconsciously flaunting his beer belly. "I don't think you understand, babe," he said with more than a little irritation. "That scroll contains the grand total of my kingdom's treasures."

"I already have my own treasures, I don't need yours. But thanks for the thought," Haru replied, her temper rising a few degrees with every time the king used the word 'babe' on her.

"Just take the stupid scroll!" the fat feline king bellowed at her, making the woman rise from her seat, and pointedly look down at the cat, still holding her cat doll close.

"Your majesty," she said with her last bit of patience. "I'm not one of your subjects, and we're not in your kingdom. You have no business ordering me to do anything. I did what I did today because that's the kind of thing I always do for anyone that needs help, whether they're royalty or not. I never asked for a reward, and frankly, I have everything I could possibly want right here in my home. Will you please just leave me in peace? That's the only thing I want for a reward, if you must insist on giving me something."

He began growling at her. "Look, babe; what's in that scroll isn't offered to just anyone. Any girl in my kingdom would consider herself quite lucky to be presented with it. This is the kind of thing that happens just once in a lifetime! Do you really want to turn it down?!"

"Just what's in the blasted scroll, anyway?" she demanded.

"Why don't you read it and find out?" the king purred as the brown cat began nudging the scroll against her pant leg.

Haru stepped onto the couch in order to get away from the persistent feline. "I'm not _that_ curious," she said flatly, rocking her doll gently. "What cats like and what humans like are two very different things, and I'd be surprised if I could even read something written by cats."

The Cat King scowled at her as the brown cat pulled the string of the scroll loose so that he could unroll it.

"You'll be honored above all others," the foolish cat intoned.

"Yeah right," she muttered.

"You'd be given the finest clothes and jewelry, along with only the best delicacies to dine on."

"Been there, done that," she countered disinterestedly.

"You will never have to do another day's work, as long as you live," the brown cat said coaxingly, turning the scroll around to point at a line of specific pictures that looked suspiciously like Egyptian hieroglyphs.

"I'm permanently retired already," Haru said in a bored tone. "Look, I either already have all that or walked away from it more than a year ago. I doubt that there is anything you have that can possibly tempt me into taking that scroll." She turned her head away from the felines in disinterest, wishing that they would just leave so that she could return to Baron's problem.

The king sighed. "Just tell her what the scroll is, Natori."

The kimono-clad cat stepped forward again, and coughed into one of his long sleeves. "That is no ordinary scroll, Miss Haru. _That _is an invitation to marry into the royal family."

Her eyelids shot up in disbelief. "Who?" she asked flatly, wondering if they were trying to engage her to some prince she didn't know.

The fat ugly king of the cats smirked at her, and struck a dramatic pose for her benefit.

Her jaw dropped. _'I think I'm scarred for life. __**Me**__? Marry __**that**__?!' _

There were so many ways she could respond to such a proposal. Throwing the offensive feline into the fireplace sounded good, but… he was still a monarch. Despite her personal feelings, she still needed to tread this unfamiliar ground delicately, but quickly.

Remembering how she humiliated more than one schoolboy over the years, she smiled deceptively at the grey longhair. "Your majesty?"

"Yes?" he asked, leaning forward eagerly.

"How old would you say I am?"

He blinked slowly. "Um… two and a half years?" he offered hesitantly.

"How _fascinating_," she said through gritted teeth, knowing that he was judging her by how cats aged. "And how old are you, precisely?"

"Five," he said a little too quickly, suddenly losing the ability to look her in the eye.

"He's actually nine," the brown cat told her nasally, making the monarch roar in displeasure and hop off of the carriage to give the lackey a good kick that sent him halfway across the room.

Haru did some quick calculations in her head, remembering that she once read as a high school student that one human year was equal to seven cat years. "So, you think I'm a teenager, you're old enough to be my grandfather in cat years although I'm not a teenager, and you're offering to marry me, despite the fact that we're different species?" she asked him icily.

The Cat King looked at her with confusion. "Well, how old are you really?" he asked.

"That's not important," she hissed, leaning down on the couch to glare at the offensive feline. "What's important is that you were trying to trick a minor into marrying you. Do you know what humans call sick people like you? Pedophiles!" she spat out in hostility.

"Is that a no?" he asked curiously.

"You'd better believe it's a no!" she yelled, making the cat fall flat on his back as the other felines backed away from her nervously. "I may like cats, but not _that _much! I've already been married to a rich arrogant jerk, and I don't care to repeat the experience! Now get out of my house, and don't come back!" the slim brunette ordered, pointing one hand imperiously to the wall that the portal had appeared on. A single glance downward revealed that Baron was grinning broadly at her, and he winked one of his slanted green eyes once, from the opposite side of the intruding felines.

The Cat King narrowed his mismatched eyes dangerously. "Oh, I'm leaving, all right," he hissed before waving one paw to his nervous subjects. "But _you're _coming with me. Take her, boys."

Despite their obvious personal feelings on the subject, ten of the attendants hopped onto the couch, and began circling her legs closely to make her lose her balance. Her legs gave away from under her, and she was sent falling down the back of the couch to the posse of cats waiting to catch her with their bodies.

But just as he had several times before, Baron suspended her body in the air, and picked her up telekinetically.

However, unlike the previous times, he lifted her body several feet into the air, and suspended her over a window for safe-keeping.

"You know," Baron said casually from the comfortable nook in Haru's arm, "you handled that quite masterfully. If the Cat King had any manners to speak of, it surely would have worked."

The foreign felines gasped in shock at seeing the girl floating in the air, and her doll talk.

"But since it didn't, what do we do now?" the brunette asked her dear friend, glaring at the fat monarch. "I'd really rather not become the Cat Queen for this pervert." _'Thank heaven I decided to wear pants today. This would be too embarrassing if I were wearing a skirt.'_

"Leave it to me, Haru," the figurine responded confidently, floating out of her arms and brushing one of his small gloved hands against her cheek softly before descending to step lightly on the back of the couch, a somewhat grim smirk on his face for the flabbergasted feline.

"How… how…" the king stuttered as he stared at the doll, and slowly looked up at the woman floating in the air. "**Drosselmeyer**!" he gasped with shock.

"That's right," Baron said grimly. "The lady, however, is under _my_ protection. Unless you are prepared to lose several of your subjects, I strongly suggest that you leave immediately."

The Cat King slowly shook his head as a greedy smile overtook his ugly face. "A Drosselmeyer bride! What a prize! Do what you have to, my subjects, but I will not leave without my Drosselmeyer Queen!"

"Not happening!" Toto cawed angrily, taking off from his perch in the corner of the room to swipe at the monarch's fur, sending him hard to the ground as Muta began to pick up cats, and throw them against the couch, the carriage, whatever was handy. But even they were overpowered by sheer numbers, and knocked unconscious.

Baron, on the other hand, amused himself by merely opening one of the windows to the blizzard outside, and picking up as many cats as he could at one go, throwing them through the window, until the king was left alone with his two advisors, and shutting the window once he was finished throwing cats through it, so that his friends would be spared from further injury from the freezing cold.

The king was choking with rage that his servants were so quickly neutralized. "How dare you!" he spat at the doll, who was still sitting calmly on the back of the couch, examining his cane absently.

"Very easily, actually. I _did _warn you, after all."

"But you're just a doll!" the fat monarch protested. "There's no way you should be able to do all this!"

"That shows how much _you _know," Baron said dryly, glancing at the clock.

Only a few more hours before midnight. He looked up at the suitably impressed brunette hanging several feet above him, her large brown eyes glowing with appreciation and admiration. He had to get rid of this pest _now_, so that he could ask Haru to set him free before the magic of Christmas Eve was gone for yet another year. The last thing he wanted, was to wait until the last minute to ask her to do that, since she'll more than likely want to discuss it at some length.

"It's such a shame that you're not honorable," the cat doll said regretfully, leaning back in his place on the back of the couch.

"I _am _honorable!" the Cat King screamed in outrage.

"You're not acting like it, with trying to force such a young lady into marrying you when she obviously cares nothing for you personally," the orange half cat countered blandly. "It's such a shame. If you _were _honorable, I'd challenge you to a duel for her, so that we could wrap this up before it gets too late. Haru hasn't been sleeping well as of late, and I'd rather she didn't fall asleep hanging in the air like that."

'_That's Baron for you,' _the brunette thought to herself, smiling warmly at the doll defending her so well. _'I wonder when he __**isn't **__worrying about me and my health. Or maybe he has another trick up his sleeve. I wouldn't put it past him. __**Dang, **__I love the sound of his voice!'_

"Good idea!" the king growled, making the gem on his head glow a dark amethyst so that two broadswords could materialize in his paws. He threw one of them at the doll with a sneer. "I bet you're not half as fierce when you have to fight without using magic!"

"We shall see," Baron replied, suspending the sword in the air before it could pierce him, and taking it after shrugging off his top hat and suit jacket, setting it aside with his cane before jumping down from the couch to land on the wooden floor.

The two advisors pushed the carriage away so that the monarch and the wooden doll could face each other, swords firmly in hand, since the tiger-bearers had been among those to be thrown out the window.

The king growled deep in his throat as he charged ferociously, his sword extended to stab the offensive cat doll straight in the heart. But Baron made no sound, save for a soft grunt as he swung his sword just enough to block the fat monarch's attack, and make an almost un-seeable series of strokes before flipping into the air, and landing squarely on his feet as the king turned around quickly, breathing angrily through his nostrils.

But Baron didn't turn around to face his opponent. "Three, two, one…" he whispered softly.

Just as the cat doll whispered 'one', the purple gem between the Cat King's mismatched eyes cracked, and then shattered spectacularly, making the king howl in agony and loss. Then, to add insult to injury, most of the long lavender grey fur covering the fat king fell off his body into a heap over his hind feet, making him drop his sword so that he could cover his nakedness with his paws like an embarrassed child.

Haru immediately broke into helpless laughter, doubling over her stomach while she covered her mouth with one hand. "Nice one, Baron!" she called to her dear friend between her gasps of mirth.

"Thank you," the doll replied modestly, gazing at the floating girl with warm affection. _'I've only heard her laugh like that before a small handful of times. Perhaps I can persuade her in the near future to laugh like that more often.'_


	23. Curse's Cure

**Chapter Twenty Three: Curse's Cure**

The kimonoed cat immediately caught the look that the living figurine was giving the girl, and sighed tiredly while pulling a small white sheet from the golden carriage to cover his monarch with. "The match is over, your majesty-"

"NO!" the Cat King howled, turning around while picking up his sword again. "I _must _have her!" He charged again…

Only to have a blue portal appear right over him, and spill out at least a regiment of red-uniformed felines on top of the king.

"Our apologies, your majesty!" they said as one, even as they hog-tied him, and carried the shaved monarch to the blue portal that had trailed from the air to land on a nearby wall, as a select few of the cat soldiers stayed behind to sweep up the lavender fur and gem shards.

As soon as the king was carried through the portal, another cat appeared. This one was wearing a white uniform jacket, decorated heavily with medals. His fur was a darker purple grey than the king's, but his smaller mismatched eyes proclaimed him to at least be of close kinship with his monarch.

"Be sure to gather up everything of my father's," the strange cat gently told the remaining soldiers before turning to look first at the floating woman, and then the cat doll. He repeated this for a few seconds, obviously wondering which one to address. He laughed nervously, and bowed low to the brunette. "Please forgive my father, Lady Drosselmeyer. His mind isn't what it used to be."

"I noticed," Haru said dryly. "Can you keep him under control?"

"Yes, my lady. I'll keep a short chain on him. Literally. It's about time for him to retire, anyway." Then the feline prince bowed to the doll. "Thank you for shattering his crown. Now he won't have any choice but to stay home."

"It was my pleasure, your highness," Baron said as he handed the dark feline the sword that the king had given him for the duel. "His majesty's servants are out that window. I'm afraid that I had to make an example of them when they hurt our friends and tried to carry off Miss Haru."

The Cat Prince sighed sadly. "I know. I was watching, just in case I needed to intervene. Again, my apologies." He bowed once more to both of them, and disappeared through the portal with his remaining soldiers. A few seconds later, the blue light of a portal glowed through the snow outside of the window that Baron had tossed the cats out of, presumably to collect the freezing felines.

"Do you think it's over?" Haru asked worriedly.

The orange cat doll sighed. "I believe it is."

She smiled with relief. "Good. Can I come down now?" she asked with a nervous giggle.

"Oh," Baron said while flushing. "Of course." Very gently, he lowered her until her slippers once again made contact with the wooden floor.

Haru wasted no time in walking around the couch, gently gathering the cat doll into her arms, and hugging him softly. "You were _fantastic_, Baron. The look on that king's face when his fur fell off was priceless!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," he said softly while nervously looking around her shoulder to check the time on the large grandfather clock that Toto had made for him decades ago. "Haru, as much as I would like to stay like this for a few more hours, the night is wearing late, and I would really like to be in my own body again."

"I forgot," the brunette admitted sheepishly as she stood up and set her doll on the couch so that he could slip on his coat and hat again. She subtly prodded both her uncle and grandfather's bodies to see if there was any permanent damage. "They seem to be okay, just out cold. Should I wake them up first?"

"Let them sleep," the doll implored as he gripped his cane, not wishing to have an audience for what was about to occur. "Please, Haru, do you really want to help me?" he asked her again.

"Absolutely," she said without thinking. "What do you need me to do?"

He smiled warmly at her as she picked him up again, and nestled comfortably into her arms. "Could you please make with all haste to my personal quarters?"

She nodded, and ran out of the still-open door, and down the hall. She flew up both flights of stairs, and made her way to Baron's door, gasping terribly.

"You shouldn't run so hard, Haru," he scolded her, which only made the girl laugh breathlessly.

"Then you should be careful when you say 'with all haste' to me. I tend to take things like that seriously." She shifted the living doll to one arm and reached out for the doorknob with the open one, but it clicked and opened without her touch. Feeling a little nervous, Haru bit her lip and gently pushed the door open.

"I feel like I'm doing something naughty," she confessed with a giggle as she stepped inside his personal quarters.

Baron laughed at her fears. "If I had any doubts concerning your intentions, I wouldn't have allowed you to come this far, Haru. My body's right there," the doll said a little solemnly, pointing at the tall canopied bed in the middle of the large room, the bed curtains neatly concealing the form lying across it.

Haru felt her heart stop for a second as she nervously walked across the almost completely dark room. She set her precious doll on the bedside table before tying one of the bed curtains aside, so that she could see the thirty-year-old body of her dear friend.

She stared at him, looking so peaceful and dashing in his old-fashioned black tuxedo, and nestled safely under a dark green quilt.

"Well?" Baron asked nervously, looking from her to his original body, like he was waiting for her to pass a sentence on him.

"You're very handsome, my friend," Haru said softly, reaching out with one hand to feel his pulse in the neck, which was stone cold. She glanced at the doll, who was blushing furiously from her casual compliment. "Dolls and paintings are one thing, Baron, but reality is quite another. Well, is there anything else you need me to do?" she asked him as her fingers trailed away from his neck to touch his cold but soft face gently, like she was caressing a sleeping baby.

Baron opened his mouth to answer her, but no sound would issue forth, despite the fact that he was valiantly trying to say something.

Looking at him curiously, she kneeled next to the table so that she could be at eye level with the doll she had labored over for months. "Go ahead, Baron," she urged him, sneaking a look at her cell phone to check the time, since she hadn't been able to fix the clock in his room. "What do you need me to do? I don't want to be rushed, whatever it is."

He blushed even further, and knocked one small fist against his chest in order to try speaking again. "Haru… do you recall our little chat over a certain fairy tale while you were struggling to come up with a toy design for me?"

Haru nodded, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "_Did _you plant that dream in my mind?" she asked slowly, blushing at the mere memory of it.

"I wouldn't even know where to start with dreams," he confessed, spreading his small hands out to protest his innocence. "The mind is very complex, Haru, and those who try to interfere with another person's mind usually end up hurting the person in question more than helping them, and I'd sooner behead myself than try to harm you. You _know _that."

She blushed at the fervent declaration, but nodded her head slowly. "Yes, I remember. We were talking about Sleeping Beauty…" she suddenly trailed off, and looked at his comatose human body with shock as a rebellious blush crossed her cheeks. "Baron?" she asked nervously, wondering if he was trying to lead the conversation where she thought he was trying to lead it.

The cat doll smiled nervously at her, and nodded. "The only way for me to return to my body, and for Toto and Muta to regain human shapes, is for a pure-hearted woman to kiss my body. On the lips," he added while blushing furiously.

"What makes you so certain that _I _have a pure heart?" she asked while looking away from him in embarrassment and shame, sitting next to the bed on the floor. "I've _told_ you about the things I've done."

"Haru, you did nothing wrong," he insisted, floating off of the table so that he could cup her cheek with one tiny hand, and lock eyes with the girl. "Everything you have ever done, you did to either please someone you cared about, or to avenge someone you loved with all your heart. You didn't really believe in _me _at first, but you were still more courteous of my wishes than most people I've known, even those I knew when I was alive. Haru… if _you_ don't have a pure heart, then no one else could possibly have one," he said, nearly choking on his own words.

She looked at him mutely, and then raised one finger to cover his tiny hand on her face. "Are you all that certain you want to take a chance on me?" she asked him in a soft whisper.

"Absolutely, Haru. I'd rather you did it than anyone else. Please?" he asked, his gaze pleading with her.

She smiled, and leaned into his touch slightly before taking the doll gently in one hand so that she could set him on the bed. "All right, I'll do it. But don't feel obligated to marry me later."

"That wouldn't be an _obligation_; that would be an honor!" Baron blurted out before he realized that he was saying it out loud.

Haru looked at him in shock as he blushed deeply again.

"Drat it," he muttered, rubbing his face with one hand in frustration. "I was planning to bring that up **after** I was back in my body."

"You know, for _not _putting that dream into my head, you're sure following it pretty closely," Haru told him pointedly.

"What was in that dream, anyway? You keep bringing it up, but why?" he asked curiously.

She blushed, and adjusted his body's head slightly as she moved herself closer to it. "Well, in the dream, you more or less made it clear that you'd like me… to be your baroness. You even kissed me."

"Then why did you wake up screaming peanut butter? Is it that terrible of a concept?" he asked sadly.

"No," Haru hastily assured him. "I was just surprised that you'd ever look at me that way. Maybe surprised isn't the right word. 'Shocked' is a little closer. I mean… Baron, don't you think I'm a little beneath you-"

His small hands came to cover her lips so fast, that she didn't even see the doll move.

"I _never _want to hear you say that again, Haru," he told her quite firmly. "If anything, I'm the one beneath you. Technically speaking, I'm even older than the Cat King in human years. I'm old-fashioned, I hardly know anything about today's outside world, and I can sometimes behave rashly when someone does something incredibly stupid. I really have no business, wishing that you could learn to love me enough to give marriage another try, and maybe some children."

"Children?" Haru asked softly, a terrible longing ache in her chest.

"That was something I've always wanted, Haru," Baron explained, looking down as he floated back to the bed, and sat on the edge. "To find a good woman that I could love and share my life with. Someone who could be a mother to my children. But you know what? Finding a good woman is even harder than finding a completely honest politician."

Haru laughed ruefully. "Finding a good man is just as hard, Baron."

His dream… it was the same as hers. Except he hadn't fallen into a trap like she had. She bit her lip thoughtfully, having never truly forgotten just how excited she had been, those eight and a half months she thought she was going to be a mother. She looked at Baron, both the doll and the human, hearing him say in her head how he'd rather behead himself then harm her.

She believed him, of course. He had never given her a reason to doubt the fact that he cared deeply for her. She cared for him as well, but… a small piece of her hesitated.

If the past were to repeat itself, she would undoubtedly die from grief.

"You're right, Baron," she said at last.

"About what?" he inquired as she turned again, and slipped a gentle hand underneath his human head.

"It would probably be better if we continued this discussion _after _you're back in your body. This feels so morbid," she said to herself dismally as she lowered her head to the cold corpse, and gently pressed her lips against his.


	24. The Happily Ever After

**Chapter Twenty Four: The Happily Ever After**

At first, Haru couldn't tell that anything had changed. Baron's lips were as cold as death, naturally, and she couldn't help but feel that she was doing something incredibly naughty by kissing a stone cold corpse.

But then, Baron's lips began to move against hers, and a startled breath was taken in deeply. Haru jerked away in surprise, and stared in amazement as his face began to contort with exertion, and his eyes opened slowly.

In that lone second, Haru realized that both the doll and the painting downstairs hadn't been able to do his eyes justice. They were _glorious_ in their color and intensity. She couldn't look away from him, even if she wanted to.

He looked straight at her, and smiled warmly. "_Thank you_, Haru."

She smiled right back at him, and gently cupped his face with one hand. "Welcome back, Baron."

He closed his eyes happily, and reached out from beneath the quilt to hold her hand against his face lingeringly. "You're so _warm_," he murmured, brushing his cold cheek against her hand.

Haru bit back a giggle, and sat down on the bed before lying down next to him, on top of the quilt while he was still underneath, so that he wouldn't misunderstand her intentions. "Don't worry, Baron. You'll get warm again soon." She wrapped both of her arms around him, and squeezed firmly to share her body heat with him before trying to massage warmth back into his back and arms.

He slipped his arms out from the quilt, and wrapped her into them comfortably, a little self-conscious over his cold body, despite the fact that it was quickly warming up, thanks to the brunette's efforts.

"Oh, Haru," Baron whispered softly, his voice on the verge of tears as he held her close, and kissed her hair tenderly while taking in the scent of it. "If any moment in my life could last forever, I wish it could be this one. I love you."

She looked up into his eyes, a little stunned by the way he said it, and the way he was holding her. Having never known what a hug from a male was supposed to be like, she had always assumed that the small twinge of fear was normal, whenever Machida or, on the rare occasion her father, ever tried to hold her.

But… the fear wasn't there anymore. For the first time in her life, Haru felt completely safe inside a man's arms. A few tears of happiness spilled down her cheek as she smiled happily and shifted her body a little higher up the bed so that she could tenderly kiss his lips again.

"I love you too, Baron," she whispered softly against his lips.

Because she was looking directly into his eyes when she said it, she could see his green orbs melt lovingly with happiness before he pulled her close for another hug.

They stayed exactly like that for over an hour, never saying a word, before Haru fell asleep in Baron's arms. It had been a trying day, after all, and the green-eyed man couldn't blame her.

As for himself, he wasn't tired in the least. He passed the time gazing at the brunette in his arms like he had done on more than one occasion before, as a ghost. But actually being able to _hold _her, and savor her warmth… he never thought that he could be so happy.

"Don't worry, Haru," he whispered softly, kissing her hair again. "I'll never give you a reason to regret this. I promise."

And, after a few more hours, even he drifted to sleep, content that everything was finally right with his world.

ooOoo

"Mommy, Daddy!" a seven-year old blonde girl called excitedly as she burst through the large door in order to run across the room and jump onto the giant bed. "Wake up, it's Christmas!"

"Louise! Don't storm into Mother and Father's room like that!" a young boy a few years older admonished from the doorway.

Haru laughed as her little girl nestled neatly between herself and her father in order to start nudging their shoulders to help them rise. "It's all right this once, Thomas. We might as well get up, love," she gently admonished the blonde man slowly working himself awake at her side. She grinned, and leaned over enough to kiss him lingeringly.

That woke him up, as it always did. He grinned at her around the kiss, and wrapped his little daughter into his arms. "Now, what could have been so important that you needed to bounce in here again, my little kitten?"

"It's Christmas, Daddy! You didn't forget, did you?" the tiny blonde asked worriedly as her father laughed, and kissed her cheek.

"No, my treasure. I didn't forget. Come now, off the bed so I can help your mother."

Louise giggled again as she rolled off the bed with ease, and pulled the big quilt and blankets off of her dark-haired mother. Haru struggled to sit up as her husband easily leapt out of his side of the bed in order to quickly walk around it and help his wife to her feet. The reason for her trouble became apparent as her nightgown fell gracefully over the large bump in her midsection.

"Be careful with my little sister," Louise said nervously as her mother linked arms with her father, who guided her tenderly out of the room after pulling on bathrobes.

"It could be a brother!" Thomas defended hotly as he walked at Haru's other side protectively, in case she needed extra help with the two flights of stairs. "Mother, Father, why won't you just ask Doctor Thorn to find out which one it is?"

"Because we'll love the child, no matter what," Baron explained patiently, although it had to have been the thirty-thousandth time. "Are your uncles up yet?" he asked in an attempt to divert his children's attention away from the new baby, to avoid another argument.

"Uh oh!" Louise exclaimed loudly in chagrin, running through the door and down the hall to wake up Muta and Toto.

"Why don't you help her, Thomas?" Haru urged her son as they reached the top of the stairs. "You know how hard it is to wake up Muta, especially when he's been staying up late to write music again."

Muta had actually stayed up late to help wrap presents, but she wasn't about to tell her son that.

"Yes, Mother," he agreed readily, standing on his tiptoes in order to kiss her cheek before rushing after his sister.

Haru laughed warmly as Baron picked her up with ease, and began taking the stairs at a safe pace. "I think we did good on both of them, honey," she said while wrapping her arms around his neck comfortably.

"I think so too," he murmured, kissing her tenderly before continuing the steady journey down the stairs. He turned down the hallway, and made his way to the sitting room, where the tree was always kept.

There were marked differences in the room since Haru had moved in, all those years ago. For one, the mantel now had several pictures bordering the top of it, along with the doll that had housed Baron's soul for the one Christmas Eve. In the middle was Haru and Baron's wedding portrait, with Toto on Haru's left as the one who gave her away with the same pride as a father and Muta on Baron's right as the best man, all four of them sporting huge smiles as the slim brunette happily intertwined her arm with her new husband's.

Haru giggled, remembering the fight that had broken out between her two 'cousins' right after the picture was taken. She looked at the other pictures, remembering warmly her daughter's ballet recitals, and her son's dueling matches. Both of them were excelling in their chosen fields… and neither of them possessed a spark of magic.

Perhaps it was for the best, she concluded as her husband gently set her on the couch, close to the large Christmas tree he and Muta had cut down two weeks before. The world didn't seem to have a need for magic, anymore.

Baron sat down next to her, his arm warmly wrapped around her as she rubbed her belly thoughtfully.

Then again… perhaps the third child would have magic. She sighed, and put the thought away for now, since only time would tell.

"Too bad we can't tell the children who their 'uncles' really are until they're eighteen," she said sadly.

Baron sighed and kissed her warmly. "It's for the best, love. Besides, you know how Louise loves to talk. It was hard enough covering up over half a century's worth of fear and 'my grandfather's kidnapping', but if she were to start talking about what really happened…"

"I know," she sighed, nestling comfortably into his arms. "I just wish it didn't have to be this way."

"Come on, Uncle Toto!" Louise told her tall dark relative as she dragged him into the sitting room by one hand as he used the other to cover a large yawn.

"Coming, sweetie," he said softly, sitting on the other side of Haru as Muta and Thomas also came in.

Muta sat in a high back chair as Thomas joined his sister on the floor next to the tree, and started reaching for presents.

"This one's for Uncle Muta, from Mommy," Louise said, passing a flat present to the fatter man before grabbing another one. "And this one's for me!" she squealed, tearing off the wrapping in her excitement.

Muta smiled in contentment, as he pulled the last of the wrapping from a nice thick new notebook, specially designed for writing music. "Thanks, Chicky. I needed a new one."

"I was half-tempted to get you a big jar of peanut butter," Haru said with a giggle, making Toto laugh as he also sifted through the gifts, and passed both her and Baron presents before unwrapping a nice big piece of plain basswood for making toys; an obsession he had always shared with Haru.

"You gave that to him ten years ago, remember?" he asked with an evil smirk, making the fatter man shudder.

"That peanut butter joke's worn out already! Please, just let it die!" Muta begged.

"I don't get the peanut butter joke," Thomas confessed as he un-wrapped a brand new practice sword. "Would someone care to explain it?"

"When you're older," Baron said firmly, grinning at his wife before stealing another kiss from her.

"Come on, you two," Muta growled as he pulled the wrapping off of a thick new cookbook. "Get a room or wait until we're out of this one."

Louise squealed with delight, holding a small red book over her head triumphantly. "Thomas, look! I got Mommy's book!"

"We _did _get to watch her paint the pictures for that book, remember?" her older brother reminded her as she hopped over the mountain of wrapping to weasel her way in between her parents and open the book excitedly.

"That's what makes it so special," Louise answered like she was talking to a simpleton, looking at the title page.

_Sleeping Beauty, by Baroness Haru von Gikkingen._

"Mommy, where did you get the idea to have Sleeping Beauty to be a lonely man and the hero a sad girl?" the small blonde asked curiously.

Haru smiled mysteriously, and looked at her husband lovingly while turning the page so that her daughter could start reading.

"I'll tell you when you're older."

ooOoo

Lots of love goes to; Anonomous-Allstar-Fan, samuraistar, Bibliophile Nincompoop, Jacky-lulu, Savannah Cullen, Archon Dragon, Greenhemogoblin, NinjaoftheDarkness, BlazingMidnightRain, Bambi4ever, lolBladeh, AlphaSigma, laurashrub, kittydemon18, Moonlight X Luna, fringeperson, Rini's Ghost, Nonimouse, goblin-queen-of-the-opera, EagleBlaze954, EtherealSympathy, ThePureLily, Chantal, Raye1084, CaptainBillyTheWerewolf, Lanari, The Spiked Dragon, thelittlespirit, Bloodsong, Utsuro, Cici-chi, HyperMint, Sailor Phantom of Middle Earth, NinjaFoodLover, ArtsyChick, xXbunnyholicXx, staggered incite, otakubarbie, Kakachi's-lil'-sis, Lunarobi Pride, Ghost Wulf, QuickStar, Poet on the Run, Strawberry White Tiger, camarts13, Ducklin, Midnight Storm the Hedgedna, MarkyB, SaraHadj, Elvin Magi, Ceysna, Muta Fan, darkryubaby, Caged Gypsy, slavetothekeyboard, Raptor-X1, Macjill, Shatoma, ferir-ice-wolf, xXxThe Unknown MalfoyxXx, Red Panda Obsessor, Annemarie, 002fox, and Bibishi Kuronecko787 for all the reviews. It's tiring, and at the same time exciting, that there were so many people to acknowledge this time.

I forget who asked me to come clean about all the stories that influenced this one, but I'll try to remember all of them for you; Anastasia, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Count of Monte Cristo (or V for Vendetta, since the idea's pretty much the same), Beauty and the Beast, and a traditional ghost story, although one of my betas made mention of a lovely movie about a live woman and a ghost that she's more or less forced to live with. I've never seen it, but it sounded like a cute movie.

Before I give out the summary for my next story, I thought I'd give out a warning of sorts. You see, due to circumstances beyond my control (working full time, chores, church, overdue craft projects, having a life, etc.), I can't write as fast as I used to. I have to slow down, so that I can actually finish my latest story and give the betas some time to look it over before posting it as well. So from now on, I'm going to try to make myself only update once a week, most likely on Sundays. I guess we'll see how well it works out, shall we?

All right, here's the latest summary I have to offer;

_Every detail of Haru's life had long been decided for her. But even the best laid plans can be ruined by one tiny… ah… misunderstanding._

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this story, because I sure had a lot of fun writing it. Except for the sad parts. They weren't as fun to write.

Lots of love,

YC


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